Topaz
by The Increasing
Summary: A humble attempt to represent the Topaz pairing that has never caught on in the FNDM. The thief and the knight are a contrast like that of light and shadow, but they do exist symbiotically in nature, don't they? So why not Emerald Sustrai and Jaune Arc?
1. Chapter 1

**Like most fans, I have a stringent belief that every single pairing is technically possible, though some are more difficult than others. Something like Arkos or ReNora is relatively easier to carry out since we saw it in canon, and can thus extrapolate from that to write their interactions. Even ships like Lancaster or White Knight can be done with more ease since they have a history of rich interactions.**

 **However, this becomes far more difficult with pairings that have no prior interactions, like Knightshade (which required Coeur Fraking Al'Aran to do properly). Then come the pairings with NO interactions, like Silent Knight... Or Topaz.**

 **Here, I will try my very best to write a small fanfic exploring one way this ship could come to be. I will try and keep updating it for as long as possible and do not have a definite end in sight. Anyone who wishes to can continue this idea of they wish or try another if this fic or the ship itself seize your fancy.**

 **I hope you enjoy this.:)**

 **RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum (RIP), Kerry Shawcross, Miles Luna and many others. I created this fic and nothing more.**

* * *

The city of Vale, capital of the Kingdom of Vale, was by all means the personification of the ideals of individuality that followed the Color Revolution. Every building was made in unique designs, for unique people, in unique colours and shapes. From the Council Building with its green and golden plaque in the front of the beautiful azure building, to the statue of the King of Vale in the centre of the city. The peoples of this Kingdom were dressed in different garbs, bearing the names of different colours and walking different paths in life. Truly, Vale was a living reminder of the values of individuality that Remnant lived by.

However, there is a downside to individuality. Because each man is different, that also means that some would be of a naturally higher lot in life, like the people who lived in the beautiful high buildings of Vale, while those of the lowest, meanest and cruellest lives, lived in the gutters and alleys besides these beautiful buildings. They foraged in the refuse of the higher folk for their lives, ate from the rotting leftovers thrown by the hotels, clothed themselves in the rags that were no longer acceptable for more respectable children. These were, by all means, just as much rats as the ones in the trash that kept them alive for another day of stealing for food and scurrying for cover. Such was freedom and individuality indeed!

One such rat was right now rummaging in the leftovers thrown by one of the richer restaurants in the city. While the cooks wouldn't call the police on them so near to their hotel, she would still get thrashed if she did not hurry in getting herself some food. Better to eat it now too, before the older kids stole it. A dry loaf of bread, the leftovers of some half eaten meat dish, some vegetables that weren't lost to rats just yet...nothing was above her dignity and was shoved down as fast as possible. It would not be enough to tide her for more than a few hours, but this was all she could get for now.

However, busy as she was in listening for the cooks, she all but ignored the people walking outside in the streets. They ignored her too except for some pitying glances, so it was all well.

At least, until the sound of small feet running was audible to her, and a small boy ran into the alley as if dogs were after him. He looked briefly disgusted at the sight of the alley, before he seemed to come to a decision. Then he jumped behind the trash can Emerald was feeding off.

Emerald was so stunned for a few minutes that she didn't know whether to bolt or stay. The boy was looking over the can with the top of his head, looking so nervous that he all but ignored Emerald standing right there. Whoever his pursuers were, they clearly filled him with such dread that he was barely thinking straight. Emerald gaped at him even as the voices of other people came outside.

The boy paled at once, and grabbed Emerald's wrist. She jerked it out at once, nearly toppling him. Her reprisal was stopped when he threw his hands up in surrender at once.  
"Wait! Look, look, look. I don't want to be found, they're going to do horrible things to me. Please, just go on like you saw nothing. I'll owe you one, I promise. Please, I'm kind of in trouble right now and- _they're here!",_ the last was said in a squeal as he jumped back.

The voices outside were raised, and Emerald could recognise that they were adults. They were looking for this boy? Was he in trouble with the wrong people?

Emerald bit her lip. She knew that there were those who picked up kids that were alone and defenceless. A friend of hers had disappeared too, and she had never come back. She didn't want to see any other kid disappear like that.

But what of they came into the alley? They would catch her too, and she would disappear. She didn't know what they did the kids that disappeared, but she didn't want to find out. She should just run for it and leave this boy. Better him than her.

But if they could both flee...

She gulped, her decision made. She had to act on itListenbefore she lost her nerve or those people looked in.

"Come on", she hissed, grabbing his sleeve and pulling the surprised boy to a hole in the wall. He seemed to be afraid, and pulled back. She snarled and he jumped. Clearly, he was not a very brave kid.

"Listen, you idiot. I'm getting you out of here. You want to escape? Then follow me. I'll get you out of here." Without waiting for the blonde to respond, she slipped to the crack in the wall that was hidden by the heaps. Nobody had cleaned it for years, so nobody knew her secret way of finding food. She wriggled through the tiny hole, and stood on the other side, waiting.

A moment later, a blonde head poked out of it, and the disheveled boy followed out. Emerald didn't stop for a moment after that, weaving between the small alleys with a the experience of all ten years of her life. The boy was following her if the clumsy footfalls were to be trusted, but she refused to slow down for a moment. If they were followed, she would prefer that he slow them down long enough for her escape.

"I'll take you to the main road and leave you there. From there, you can find the coppers to the left and go longer to the east for The House. That's in the direction of that big blue building with the axes. I'll go my own way, don't follow me. I can look out for mys-"

Her breathe caught. It wasn't the people who made kids disappear, but it was almost as bad. A tall red headed kid leaned almost insolently on the wall in the corner.

Tin Renard leered at her from the corner, the biggest kid on the block looking at her with something between greed and anger. He was still carrying the scar of the time she cut him on the eye, and he was scratching it with the looks of someone who hadn't forgotten.

"Re-Renard!", her voice went an octave higher like the cats. The blonde was still behind her, whispering something to her. He was asking her questions. She hastily told him to run from the corner of her mouth. She couldn't run from the bigger boy, but he could still get away."We've got the kid takers behind us! We have to run!"

He didn't believe her. His grin turned hungry as he took three steps closer until he was spitting distance of her.

"Huh? That's funny, Em. You said that last time we met too. Running into them daily? Come,I'll take care of you. Renard will take care of things. And we can talk about me eye while we're about it... And your eye too. Red will look damn pretty on me with my hair."

As she walked back in blind terror, she cursed that boy for making her run, then get her here this moment right onto Tin Renard. She cursed the kid stealers. And above all, she cursed herself for being so dumb...

Then a blonde head was suddenly in front of her, and she suddenly noted, now that he wasn't crouching, that the boy was tall, taller than her.

And taller than Tin Renard.

Renard jumped back at suddenly facing someone bigger than himself."Get out of my way, brat. The kid's mine! She gave me this scar here" he pointed to his eye "and I'm going to give it back to her!"

The taller boy didn't even flinch as he glared at Renard. Cursing quietly, Renard turned and left.

Emerald's breathing fell back into normal. She stared at the idiot she had been rescuing moments earlier, who had just rescued _her.  
_  
The boy turned to give her a shaky grin, and she suddenly realised that he was just as scared as she had been.

"I'm Jaune, by the way. Jaune Arc. Mom says that ladies love it, but I'm not seeing that right now. Shall we go on?"

Emerald nodded dumbly, and walked forward, tracing another path.

This time, she made sure that he was just behind her.

* * *

 **Here we are. The very first chapter of the fic done. The two lead characters of the play have met, had the beginning of a small adventure, and introduced themselves to each other. Emerald by her actions and Jaune by the very familiar words.**

 **Oh Jaune, and you wonder why Weiss didn't fall for you? You are incorrigible!**

 **This little jaunt of theirs is not even close to over yet. Our two leads have just met and introduced themselves, and there is potential for a friendship between them, no matter how faint. They have both rescued each other, and showed their best traits. Not an ideal First Sight, but this will have to do for now. Later...who knows? Except me.**

 **Please review. Even if it is just to say that you read this fic. Reviews make me want to write more and better. Have a nice day/night.**

 **-The Increasing**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter. Jaune gets to give his side of the story.**

 **RT owns RWBY and the trio of Monty, Miles and Kerry are it's major creators. I own this story.**

* * *

Even as he nearly stumbled to avoid stepping on some weird black sludge that could be anything from dog poop to rotten vegetables, Jaune wondered if the green haired girl (Em?) was into this a lot more than he was. He was pretty sure he'd rather not run this far when he could just hide from his sisters behind that trash can...

It had all begun when Jade and Lapis had dragged him to the clothing store with them when the rest and mom were arguing about what to buy. He didn't really want to go into the girl store, but he never had a choice when Lily just picked him up and took him along. He was tall, but she was too. And she had just laughed when he had struggled. It was honestly kind of irritating. But she got him an Ice-Cream, so it was all good.

No, the problem had been when they had already done their shopping for some frilly blue clothes. Lily had looked at him and got the _weirdest_ look in her eye which meant she was about to do something horrible. Jade eyeing the dresses that were his size hadn't helped. No stranger to being dressed up in girl clothes by terrible big sisters, Jaune had decided to book it right then.

Unfortunately, he really couldn't run fast enough to lose his thirteen year old sisters, and they had caught up with him in a minute despite his head start. He had managed to get into that alley, but they had seen him and were coming after him. He had been _so_ freaked out, but that green haired girl had decided to rescue him. Maybe she had big sisters like his too. Would explain how she knew that it was serious.

Right now, Em was leading the way at a brisk pace, looking back to see if he was there. It was creepy (in an awesome way!) how she just seemed to know her way around here. She must have been living here all her life...which wasn't a very good thing, if she had to live in this smell with only jerks like that kid for company.

He wondered if she liked some Ice-Cream too...

"Here you are." Em's voice broke in. She was pointing at the ending to the street out of which he could see the police station and mom's office. They were in King's Street.

"Yeah, thanks Em. Listen, you want to come along? My mom is right there with my sisters, so we could have some Ice-Cream. My treat, for saving me from them."

Em looked unimpressed... Until her stomach suddenly growled. Loudly.

"...shall we eat too?" He asked,feeling a bit awkward.

Em went red in the face and nodded without looking at him.

* * *

Jaune wondered vaguely if his allowance was enough to feed Em more than once. While they had stopped just for Ice-Cream, maybe it wouldn't be enough for her, and it was best to be nice to any new people he met. Potential friends were not to be ignored. So he had ordered a full plate of meat and gravy along with the Ice-Cream.

Em inhaled it.

There was no mercy, no decorum and no quarter given. She just started on the meat before he had even laid his napkin and tore it apart in seconds. Then she just gulped down the bread without chewing thirty two times and even licked the gravy from her fingers. Her plate was so clean that he felt really guilty about how he left the vegetables and some of the gravy.

"Are you going to eat that?"she said hoarsely, pointing at his plate. He wordlessly shook his head. She took the plate in an instant, shovelling down the vegetables, a piece of meat he didn't like and then used her fingers to wipe the gravy clean.

Mom would have thrown a fit.

The Ice-Cream finally arrived, and Jaune decided that he'd rather pick his fights and leave her to eat like she wanted to. If she wanted to swallow Ice-Cream like that...

Em had barely grabbed onto the chocolate fudge cone before she bit off the entire top off and swallowed it. Nibbling at his own cone, Jaune waited. And waited. And waited...moments later, his patience was rewarded.

"Unnnnggghhh"Em didn't scream like some girls did, but the expression on her face was spot on. Brain freeze, the bane of anyone who didn't know the true art of eating Ice-Cream. He had got it when he was five and ate Ice-Cream for the first time, and had learned since that time that no matter how delicious it was, you took it slow or paid the price. Looked like Em was too greedy for that.

Hastily paying the bill, he ordered a cup of warm tea to make her better. The waiter got it in a minute, casting a look on Em that was somewhere between pity and amusement. Jerk.

After she drank the tea, Em stopped groaning in pain and looked at him with eyes that tried to be scary, but were way too teary to manage it. The already red eyes were practically swimming in tears of pain, and were puffy to boot. Girls really couldn't take pain.

"What the hell just happened to me?", she growled, or at least tried to. That he was still holding her hand and rubbing her back spoiled the image. Her bright red cheeks didn't help the nonthreatening image.

"Brain freeze. If you eat Ice-Cream too quickly, it freezes your brain and makes it hurt until you drink something warm. Didn't you know that?" He couldn't help grinning. It was just so _funny.  
_  
"I've never had Ice-Cream before" she grunted, some feeling back in her.

His grin faded.

"Wait, how did you not eat Ice-Cream? All the kids eat it! You're the first kid I know who's never had Ice-Cream."

"No money" her face turned away from his, her hand coming up to wipe the tears away. Jaune blinked.

"Then why didn't you ask your mom or dad? They'd give you money!"

"I don't have parents" she murmured, getting up from her seat and turning to leave. Jaune was too stunned to respond. No parents? No money? _She never had Ice-Cream?!  
_  
How did she live?

He got up at once and hurried after here before she could disappear in the alleys. Em hissed like a cat when he put a hand at her shoulder, but didn't do anything as he dragged her to the light.

"What do you want now? The police are there. They'll get you back home safe. I have to get back before someone else gets to my place."

He grit his teeth as he tried to decide how to phrase it, then gave it up and said it straight."Come with me."

Em's eyes went wide. He hastily continued before she could interrupt and he lost his nerve.

"It's not right for any kid to stay alone, my mom says so. You were hungry and have never even had Ice-Cream. And that red haired kid's probably still out there. Come along with me to where me and my family are staying. It's not very far from here, fifteen minutes tops. You could have dinner with us, I'll explain everything to mom, and then you could hang around the place until we go home. Then I'll find you a place to hang out in, maybe near the old barn. That way, you won't have to be alone and you can even have Ice-Cream every week, my treat!"

He said it all without stopping for even a moment, afraid that his nerves would fail him if he did. He didn't know what Em did to stay happy in a place like this...but wouldn't she want to stay around people? Especially since she didn't have parents?

And then there was that red haired kid...

"No." Em's voice was flat, final. She didn't even consider it for a moment. The green haired girl turned and stalked back into the darkness.

Deep inside, Jaune understood what a rejection meant. It meant that the other party just wasn't interested in his proposal.

"I'll be here tomorrow, same time! If you change your mind, I'll be here too, until night!" That didn't mean he gave up. Even if she refused him, he wasn't going to just let it be. He simply couldn't do that. He couldn't just give up even if she was just a girl he'd met two hours ago. She was his friend, she helped him escape his sisters, took him on a fun adventure in the alleys, scared off that kid alongside him and just had brain freeze in front of him.

"And day after tomorrow! Every day until you decide!"

Em gave no indication that she heard him as she walked into the dark, leaving him in the light.

* * *

 **In the first, we mostly saw things from Emerald's PoV since she can be said the be a more minor character in canon as compared to Jaune Arc. Therefore, her personality had to be established as far as possible to be what it was. Somewhat cynical, very much hardened by misery, and yet keeping a kernel of altruism in herself. I don't find it impossible that a street kid would know the value of watching out for each other, or knowing about common enemies like traffickers and policemen.**

 **Jaune gets his PoV here. He is a child, an extraordinarily naive and green one, but I think he can learn that things are not so nice in the world. It was a chance for him to see things on the iother side, so as to make him understand things better.**

 **And the symbolism of light and shadow in the end is entirely intentional. Emerald has to choose where she wishes to stay, and agreeing with him will not be enough. She has to make a conscious choice about her path, and hope that she chose well.**

 **Here's to hoping!:)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here we go again!:)**

 **RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and is the creation of Monty, Miles and Kerry**

* * *

Emerald ran back into the comforting darkness of the alleys. While she had no trouble navigating the route back to her sleeping spot, her mind was in a whirlwind.

How dare he. _How_ _dare he?  
_  
She had helped him, saved him from the stealers and got him to safety, even tried to get him to safety away from Renard (that he had actually managed to save her there was uncomfortably forgotten) and what did he do in return?

 ** _Pity her!  
_**  
 _Pity._ She didn't need pity. She had enough of pity from the people in the streets. People who gave them, all the street rats in their filthy and torn clothing while they had clean and colourful clothes, those looks of disgust and condescending pity. They would shake their head at the sight , and then continue on their way to meet their families and eat their three square meals a day without a second thought. Every now and then, one threw a lien coin at them, or some food, or even some clothes during the winter. They took them because pride came second to survival, but the feelings of inferiority still rankled.

Her hands clenched. She had seen the same look in his eyes. That moment when he found out that she didn't live a happy life like him. When he found out that she didn't eat _Ice-Cream_ (as if that meant anything for people who starved every day),that she had no family to return to. She hadn't complained before, and lost what was likely to be the largest meal she ever had(she still felt slightly funny from it) and would probably ever have.

And then he asked her to live with him. Like a stray cat or dog. Something he would feed and keep clean and possibly dress up to make himself feel better.

She'd rather rummage through trash. At least she would be living on her own strength.

Alone.

She took a little more time than usual to reach because of her full belly. Her sleeping spot was a few moldy blankets arranged besides an old wall of an abandoned house. She would go to sleep now that she was fed and would be able to hawk the powder the older crooks gave them. There was a new supplier, a youngish man with hair that was even brighter red than Renard and a weird laugh. She didn't like how he looked at everyone, but he paid well.

It was probably her dulled senses that were to blame, or maybe she was too busy with her miserable thoughts, but she only noticed that someone was watching her when she almost walked into the trap.

She stilled, heart beating furiously. It wasn't something she had heard, or seen, or smelt. It was just a knowledge that _she wasn't alone in that place.  
_  
She took a few steps back, the pounding in her head drowning out everything. She knew, _knew,_ that there was someone there. It was just something she always knew, from when she was eight. Or maybe seven. She trusted her instinct, and slowly backed out of the alley where she slept, her eyes scanning the shadows for anything that stuck out. Like the rat before the trap...

With a scream of jubilation, a red headed figure burst out from behind the dumps. Emerald let out a scream of fear of her own, helplessly throwing out her hands and closing her eyes. It wouldn't do much, but there was nothing she could do but wait for the knife to land...

And bounce off?

As if it were just a rubber knife, what she recognized to be a tin can top folded into a serrated blade crumped uselessly against her palm. The other hand, however, grabbed her throat with ease. She lashed out desperately, and landed a blow on the jaw of her bigger assailant. To her surprise, he let go with a grunt of pain.

She didn't question her luck, turning to run. She knew the alleys like the back of her hand, but Renard was older and had been born here. The only way she could escape for good was to reach the police station and take her chance with the Bluecoats.

Now to keep away long enough for that...

She took a sharp turn into a small alley, cursing the greed that had made her eat so much. She couldn't possibly run as fast as she always did. All she could hope was for that he didn't see her.

No such luck. He was no fool and had probably hidden here before from older kids, because he immediately stopped and looked inside.

Curled in a crack, Emerald prayed with all the desperation in her heart for him to not see her, that he would just look in and _see nothing...  
_  
Tin Renard looked in, and he saw her.

"Get away from me!" She shrieked, backing away as he closed in on her. His scarred face was in an ugly leer as he approached her. Emerald's hope ran out as his eyes fell directly upon her.

And passed over.

He looked in every book and cranny, even upturned some cardboard boxes, and spied out every crack. He looked at her three times, ignoring her presence completely. He mumbled curses at her name. His teeth gnashed like a beast and his hands clenched. He looked around the alley like a crazed dog.

 _But he didn't see nor hear her._

Emerald's breathing slowed down. A very strange thought came to her. Slowly, nervously, like a rat emerging from it's hole, she took a step out. She looked in his direction. He was looking her way.

He didn't react at all.

She slowly edged towards the end, her footsteps making noises when they met the puddles on the floor due to the pipe's overflow. Tin Renard suddenly jumped and looked in her direction...

She barely let out a squeak as his eyes didn't stay on her for a moment. He snorted, tuened around,rummaged around in the alley for a minute, then turned and left, cursing all the way and discussing how he would rip her eyes out and...with her barely a step besides him.

Emerald sank to her knees, drained. What just happened... Made no sense. She would try to make some later, when she was safe.

She forced herself onto her feet, and fled to safety as fast as she could.

* * *

 **Looks like Emerald has received the first miracle of her life. Well, I say that she's long overdue!**

 **Sorry for no Jaune PoV. That will come later. This fic was originally supposed to be just a 2K oneshot, but it seems to have gone slightly longer. Nevertheless, the next chapter will be the end of the Introduction Arc.**

 **I'll see about continuing after that.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here comes the end of the first Arc. Enjoy.:)**

 **RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and is the creation of Monty, Miles and Kerry, among others.**

* * *

Emerald slinked through the alleys like a ghost in the darkness, keeping to the shadows, waiting with bated breath for any sounds of footsteps. It would be dark in less than two hours, but the alleys were always gloomy places due to the buildings blocking out the sun. The other urchins would wake up soon to work in the night, selling wares and picking pockets of any unlucky pedestrians. If that happened, she would be found out in less than an hour by any of Reynard's flunkies. She couldn't stay here.

All she had to do was escape from the area for a few nights. She had friends in the Eastern side. Reynard would give up soon and she could come back then. She'd have to look for another spot though...

 _"I'll be there..."  
_  
She should have taken the offer. Even if she had no wish to be the pet of some dumb kid she just saved from the stealers...oh gods, the stealers! They were bound to return now that they lost their prey!

Emerald felt a surge of the panic like the one she had been trying to ignore for hours. She was alone here, with nightfall getting closer and no place to hide in. If she went about the streets, she may well be taken. If she went back, Renard would kill her or worse. If she stayed here, either may get her.

Curse that brat! She should have left him to them. What had come over her? She had been stupid...but she could still get through this. All she had to do was see if he was there. She would beg him to take her with him if needs be. He looked soft and would fall for it easily...and if he had left, then she just had to stay the night at the cops and find him tomorrow if his promise held.

If he hadn't just got bored and left, anyway.

She slinked through the dark like a cat, red eyes scanning for danger. This was it. The end of the alleys. She would be finding her dearest benefactor soon enough...

He wasn't there.

For a few moments, Emerald just stood there. The boy wasn't there. She shouldn't have been shocked, but somehow was. The kid seemed the stupid kind that always kept his promises out of honour. She had effectively nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide. All she could hope for was that nobody found her before dawn...

"Looking for someone?"

 _No! Not now!_

Her insides turned to ice. The familiar voice had come from behind her, from much closer than she preferred. She wanted to run, to hide from him, but she froze like a rat in a trap. He did not.

His hand came at her elbow, jerking her off her feet into the shadows. She crashed on the walls, her head hitting the concrete with a crash that made her see stars. She was hauled up by her hair, a fist crashing into her stomach and throwing her even deeper into the shadows. He was older, heavier and had been handing out beatings to kids bigger than her for a long time. She was nowhere near capable of fighting back.

Emerald Sustrai curled up into a ball, her body aching in so many places that she couldn't even force herself to get up to escape. She was a small, frail and malnourished girl with no muscle anywhere, and the larger boy's blows had left her body in a ruin. Breathing was hard, her head was still swimming and her ribs were killing her.

She would die here.

The thought came to her groggily as she lay on the damp, dirty ground. She would die here, unmourned by anyone. Her eyes would be cut out, and her body defiled by the dogs and birds. Days later, some of the workers would smell the stink from her corpse and throw her wherever they threw dead people.

This was over. His steps came closer, and she was hauled up to match him eye to scarred eye. Renard grinned as he raised his blade, and she tensed herself for it to end...

Next moment, Renard fell onto her, his heavy body crushing her abused frame for a second. Then he was hauled off her, making her collapse from the momentum. The moment her head stopped spinning and she could lift her head and open her eyes, she looked onto the scene that had erupted a few seconds ago.

The blonde kid(Jaune?) was tussling with Reynard, the taller boy trying to pry the knife from his enemy's hands. He succeeded, but Renard struck him just below his eye, drawing blood. Jaune growled and _lifted_ him off his feet, throwing the smaller(relatively) boy off his feet into the wall where his head struck the concrete with a sickening thud. Renard got to his feet, but Jaune punched him so hard on his jaw that he fell back on the ground. Jaune stamped on his stomach, and Renard wheezed. Then he lifted his foot and stamped on him again for good measure. Reynard went still out of pain.

He didn't want to get hurt more.

"Listen", the blonde growled. "I'll lift my foot, and you run. Run, and never try to hurt her again. Understand?"

His forehead matching his hair due to the blood streaming down his face, Renard nodded fearfully. He knew the rules of the street. You don't mess with people who can beat you up, and you try to do what they want unless you want them to do it. Jaune lifted his foot, and the redheaded boy stumbled away into a side alley. The pattering of his feet quickly petered off.

In silence, the two remaining kids stared at each other. Emerald broke the silence.

"You came back.", Emerald coughed out. She didn't really have the breathe nor the will to go for flowery gratitude.

"I went for a drink. Saw him grab you." He wheezed out. He was clearly very tired from the fight. Seemed like neither of them was in a great state.

"You stayed?", this time, it was a question. Bewildered and somewhat touched.

Kids in the streets helped each other out. The only way to survive was to sometimes help or get help from others. But that didn't mean that they would risk their safety for others. When it came down to it, it was every man for himself. If there was food only for one, then the bigger kids kept it. If there was danger that they couldn't handle, they broke and fled, leaving the slowest to their fate. If a bigger kid attacked you, they wouldn't help, if only to stay in his graces for later.

They didn't jump into a fight with a big kid with a knife to help someone they met six hours ago.

"An Arc never goes back on his word", the boy looked up, a bruise forming on his grinning face.

Was that it?

She gulped. He had just risked himself for her sake. He said that he would take care of her. She could run, and he wouldn't be able to follow. She had survived for a long time alone, and maybe she could just make it through tonight?

He held out his hand to her to steady herself. She took it, nearly wobbling and falling. He grabbed her and threw her arm over his shoulder.

"Thank you" she croaked out, a sob nearly breaking out of her throat. She was tired, her body hurt and the last Sox hours were catching up to her. Anything was better than this, just running from things and starving until she could steal something.

Jaune said nothing, but he put his other arm around her waist. He didn't squeeze, which was good for her bruised ribs, but he just applied let it stay there, covering her body and helping her walk, enclosed by his arms. The two small children straggled out of the shadows.

She stepped into the light.

* * *

 **Whew! First arc over. I must say that I never intended for this to go for as long as this. It was just supposed to be a oneshot I wrote just to amuse myself. But now I come to think of it, I kind of like the idea.**

 **Jaune and Emerald are fundamental opposites. He is from a happy, loving family where his needs were kept. She's an orphan who threw her eternal loyalty to the first person who pretended to show her affection. He's a Knight, and she's a Thief. He's the sidekick for the Hero, and she's the sidekick for the Villain.**

 **And both lost their loved ones, making them break down in similar ways.**

 **So I couldn't help but be interested, and I think they still have my interest. I will continue this fic when I have the time. For now, Topaz is the ship I sail in.:)**

 **Bye until I update again! Please review. It gives me pointers on how to improve my writing!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A small chapter here. Must say, I didn't expect for it to go so long.**

 **RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and is the creation of Monty, Miles, Kerry and many others.**

* * *

Jaune nervously peeked into the dark alley behind the hotel his family were staying at. There was visibly nothing there. All the same, he kept looking in for a few seconds.

"Em!" He called out in a loud whisper. "Em!"

He waited for a few seconds, feeling a little stupid at how he was talking to apparently empty air.

"I'm here." Jaune jumped violently as the voice suddenly spoke up in his ear. The food he was carrying nearly fell out, as he turned around to look at his friend.

Emerald Sustrai looked a lot happier ever since she had left that scary looking place they met. Her red eyes were a little brighter and her frame a little more energetic. The week she had spent with him seemed to have made her a little happier, for she was smiling mischievously at her prank.

"Ha ha, very funny. Scare me every time, never gets old", He rolled his eyes as he set down the food he had smuggled out of the hotel. Emerald fell ravenously on it as usual, though she made sure not to eat as fast as she usually did.

"What can I shay?", Em spoke between mouthfuls (which was rude, but Jaune was used to it) "You make the funniesht expresshuns when you ( _gulp_ ) jump and scream like a girl"

Jaune flushed as Em giggled at his face. She had been much more amiable ever since she had taken to eating three times a day, as well as any snacks he could smuggle through his family. He had tried to smuggle her _in_ to get her a bath too, but she had put down her foot down at doing something so risky for something she wasn't all that interested in anyway.

Emerald soon annihilated the last of the pudding, and Jaune began to pack it all up. Seriously, where did she put it all? She was much smaller than him, but ate a lot more.

Though he didn't go near the topic of food. He had seven sisters, and he was no fool.

"We should start thinking on how to take you with us tomorrow. Mom and dad don't know about you, and I'd like to keep it that way. They'd make you leave."

"I can sneak on the train with this little trick of mine", she pointed out, turning invisible to demonstrate. Jaune, to his credit, didn't even flinch. It had taken him a long time to figure out that this was something called a "Semblance", a unique superpower that people developed.

If only he had one too...

"That'll do for hiding you in one, but how do we make sure that you get in? And I'll have to make sure you get food, and what of when we get to home? We can't leave you behind if we catch a taxi, and you don't know the way ho-" he was cut off by Emerald playfully throwing the paper on his face.

"Relax, Jaune. I've got it. I'm the master thief, after all!" She curtseyed. Jaune threw the paper back, but she dodged it. Somehow, she seemed to always know if she was about to be attacked.

"Well, unless you are a master stowaway as well, we need a plan." He spread another sheet of paper with carefully laid plans and-

"Is that a couple of stick figures and a train? And is that green headed one me?"

-diagrams.

Jaune flushed angrily. "Excuse me? Operation Stowaway is being planned here! Ignore the pictures" He coughed to look more dignified, and continued.

"Look, the station is about ten minutes by foot from here. If we get you there in the morning before the rest wake up, you'll be there ahead of time. Then, we can get you on the train, and you can just go invisible. Then, we will wait until we get home, and you can slip into the station when the train stops. I'll come get you in the morning. Any questions?"

Emerald raised an eyebrow. "How is it any different from my plan of using my power and winging it?"

Jaune opened his mouth, his brain working furiously as he tried to save his dignity. Finally, he coughed again.

"It's more neat this way. No confusion anywhere. Every thing laid out clearly." Emerald giggled at the expression on his face. She was clearly not taken in at all.

Jaune rolled his eyes and packed the papers away. He would have to wake up a little earlier to get Emerald the platform number and train. It had to be planned very carefully if he didn't want to cause disaster...

Even as he turned to leave, he felt a tug at his sleeve. Emerald was looking straight at him with a serious expression on her face.

"Jaune...", she stopped. Jaune waited for a moment... And waited... And finally decided to use the trick he found out in their third talk to get her to finish her sentence.

He sat down on a crate, and waited.

Emerald pouted as she saw that she would have to finish now.

"I...never thanked you." Jaune blinked.

"Thank me for what?"

Emerald glared at his stupidity. Her face was slowly going slightly dark red as she continued to glare at the moronic friend she had found.

"For-for all of this!" She hissed, poking a finger at his chest and nearly dropping him. She seemed to have become a lot stronger ever since she came with him.

Must be the food. Meanwhile, Emerald continued to rant.

"I mean, a week ago, I was starving and running from everything. Then, you came and decided that we're Best Friends because we talked for a minute and ran away together. Then you fed me, saved me(again) because... I don't know. Then, you fed me for a week, and how you're trying to think of a way to smuggle me on a train to take me to a village so that I won't be alone again, so...thank you."

Jaune scratched his head awkwardly. Did girls have to be so weird?

Em saw his face and huffed. Then she took a step forward, and gave the horrified Jaune a hug.

She couldn't help laughing as he slinked away red faced. Revenge was fair play, after all.

* * *

 **Admittedly, nothing much happened. But I believe a small glimpse at how their relationship currently stands and their views on each other were needed. Plus, I really wanted to see little Jaune try to make plans.**

 **Emerald seems to be gaining classical Tsundere tendencies, much to my mild horror when a reader pointed it out. I believe it's just an extension of how she's been shown to be incredibly affectionate and loyal to the people who seem to care for her (like Cinder, emphasis on** _ **seem to)**_ **and her naturally mischievous personality. Jaune is for her a combination of Mercury and Cinder from canon, so her behaviour flips rapidly in between adoration for him when he takes care of her to a comfortably playful one when he is just a friend, an equal.**

 **I hope it's not too grating. Writing both facets of her personality and portraying them equally is tough, but I'm getting comfortable with it.**

 **Jaune, meanwhile, is both trying to understand how Emerald thinks and keeping the fallout of his childish impulse low. He's stubborn that way, and is incredibly unlikely to accept defeat. While keeping the nose of someone like Emerald clean is a herculean effort not fit for a toddler like little Jaune, he has made his bed from the moment he asked Em to come with him, and must lie on it.**

 **Not that he'll see it that way, but that's just Jaune for you. His goals and reality are not always (or ever) convergent.**

 **In other news, Topaz just got recd on TVTropes. That's pretty much the highlight of my career in fanfics.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here we go again! Just read the DVD Commentary. Looks like poor Em isn't in the best of places, in the power of something she fears so much.**

 **RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and is the creation of Monty Oum, Miles Luna, Kerry Shawcross and many others.**

* * *

Emerald carefully peeked out of the door of the carriage. This had been the first time she had ever travelled by train, and she found it to be a mixed experience. Thankfully, the train had stopped now.

She got out gingerly, with her muscles aching from staying alert for all three hours of the journey from Vale to this place. She was good at hiding, but anyone would have seen her in the luggage car whenever the train stopped, if not for her "semblance".

She took a step out of the carriage, looked around to see an empty station, and quickly scurried to the spot Jaune had shown her before his family left. The breeze hit her face as she covered the distance to the old mansion outside the station in seconds, not even feeling tired when she stopped by the gate. She easily climbed over the wall that would have stymied her ten days ago and quickly reached the old lawn behind the house.

She stopped, placing a hand at her chest. Her heart was beating hard, but nowhere near what it should have been. Her hands were not hurt from clambering over the wall and her muscles were not aching anymore. She sat down near the porch, and looked at her hands.

She had been getting stronger, faster, tougher. Things didn't hurt her as much as they did and she could do things she never could before. She could go invisible and knew when she was being watched or attacked. Jaune had been just as mystified as her until he had apparently read some book and found out that this thing that made her strong was something called "Aura", that Huntsmen had. A power that healed her injuries, made her strong and fast, and gave her her "semblance".

She held up her hand. Nothing had changed. She could still see herself as clearly as ever, but nobody else could. This power... It wasn't being invisible altogether. Or maybe she could see herself since she was also invisible? Uugh! It made no sense!

"Em?", she jumped as she heard Jaune arrive. He was facing the area where she was standing clearly, eyes not focusing on her at all as his gaze travelled the porch, not focusing on any one spot for an instant. Even though she was standing right in front of him, he could not see nor hear her there...

"I'm here." She said, breaking the illusion. Jaune's face instantly broke into a grin as his eyes finally focused on her. He quickly darted back behind the wall and dragged out a large bundle of cloth as big as himself. Emerald vaguely wondered how he had dragged it here without comment. Wasn't it her who had the illusions power?

"Here, I got everything I could think of!". He began to take everything out like a magic trick... Well, not much of one, but he wasn't going to let Em do all the tricks! He had got the stuff here, right? All it took was offering to throw away the food that had gone bad, slip in the food and sheets for Emerald and take a... _longer_ route to the mill to buy more bread. Then leaving the bundle besides a tree where nobody would touch it(because who would pick up a dirty bundle besides a tree that mostly contained worn clothes?) And collect it later when he went out to play during the evening.

Blissfully unaware of the pointless complexity of his "plan", Jaune mentally patted himself on the back. He was a genius!

He quickly took out the sheets and some food, mainly bread and biscuits. Taking more would have tipped mom off, but nobody noticed a little less bread in a farming village of Vale. Slipping Emerald a proper dinner would be easy enough if he managed to smuggle her to his house after dinnertime, and slip her the leftovers through his bedroom. Meanwhile, she could stay here.

"The house belonged to an old man who went off to the War a long time ago. There's a caretaker, but he never checks the place. You can sleep here at night after you've eaten. We'll find you another place later, maybe at the inn, but this place will be fine for now, right?"

"Huh?", Emerald said vaguely, making him look up to check. She had left the porch while he was unpacking everything to check and recheck if nothingness had been stolen. The green headed girl was eyeing the large blood red exterior of the mansion with a complete lack of interest until her eyes fell on the rusted old lock. Jaune quickly threw the stuff back in and went in to check as well.

Hurrying to step right besides her, he eyed the lock carefully. While he was no expert on locks, this one seemed to be quite solid. He had hoped that it would be a rusted old piece that he could break with a rock, but the shiny silver lock didn't look like it would budge to anything he could throw at it. Looked like they would have to improvise. He was about to suggest the same to Emerald before he saw her expression and stopped.

Emerald was eyeing the lock carefully with narrowed eyes, as if weighing her chances. She held it in her hand and gave a small pull to test it's strength, not looking discouraged at all when it stood strong. Her eyes had a small, mechanical gleam to them...

Then she blinked as if she had just remembered something, giving him an extremely guilty look before turning her head away from his gaze.

"How...are we getting in, again?", she asked, still looking very uncomfortable.

Jaune blinked. "We'll break a window, of course! I couldn't filch the key from old Brown, so it's the only way in. It's a shame...it'll give us away if he checks here, but it can't be helped."

Em coughed, looking away from him and kicking the floor with her toe.

"I, um, might be able to help with that." She said. Without looking at him, she stepped forward and took out two small pieces of iron wire. Jaune stepped asides and watched enraptured as she proceeded to work the lock.

Emerald fashioned a loop out of one piece of iron, and carefully inserted the looped part into the hole of the lock. Taking the other, she bent it ever so slightly near the middle to give it a sharp bend. She took the bent piece, and inserted it alongside the loop. Then with practiced skill, she began to fiddle with the lock.

Jaune's eyes grew twice as large as Emerald listened carefully to the clicks coming out of the inner workings of the lock. For about two minutes, she kept fiddling with the wire and listening to the sounds coming out until she took a sharp breath of triumph. The lock clicked open and fell on the floor.

Alongside this, Jaune's mouth fell open. He had read about lock picking in his books, but never _seen it happen_. He hadn't even been sure it was real! He gave Emerald a look of fascinated respect, but she didn't meet his eyes as she pocketed the pieces of wire.

Emerald pushed open the door and rushed in inside, not looking at him. He ran after her, making sure to bolt the door so that nobody would see. Emerald was walking at a brisk pace ahead, not looking back at him.

For some reason, it disturbed him.

"Em! Wait up!", he called in an angry whisper. Emerald stopped cold, still not looking around. He caught up with her, grabbing her shoulder to turn her around. "Stop running from me like that! Neither of us knows this pla-" He stopped when he saw her expression.

She looked scared.

"Em?", he asked. Emerald seemed to shrink before him, and he was suddnely reminded that of how small and thin she still was, even after a week of eating properly. But her face was what caught his attention the most. She was looking at hihim like he was going to eat her or something.

"...is there something wrong?", he asked cautiously, taking his hand off her shoulder.

"I learnt it in the streets.", she whispered. "We had to get food and blankets from somewhere, and money too sometimes. An older kid taught me." She averted her face again, looking at her feet and fidgeting. "I meant to show you I could do this, sooner or later. This was what I used to do...before. Thought this was a good time to mention it to you."

She gave a semi shrug that she abandoned halfway through, then stood there, ill at ease, waiting for his response. Silently and almost fearfully.

The tension could almost be heard...

"No problem. Thanks for telling me.", Jaune said casually.

...never mind that.

Emerald's face went blank for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it to stare at him for a few more seconds. Then she opened it again to try and say something, but no sound came out. Jaune waited impatiently for actual words, remembering then and there the old adage of many a man(for a given value of man..)who had been in this exact situation.

 _Girls are weird._

Emerald finally managed to say something. "I-I wanted to ask you what you think about it? What else?!" Her voice went just a little too high for his taste.

Jaune shrugged." I think it's pretty neat. Can you teach me that later? I'd impress everyone at school!"

Emerald's mouth fell open again. A disbelieving snort erupted from her lips, slowly changing into giggling. Within moments, she was laughing silently with a hand at her mouth to stifle the noise. Jaune stood there confused.

"Was it something I said?", he asked carefully, trying not to set another laughing fit off. What was the problem here? Why was Emerald laughing as if someone had told the funniest joke in Remnant and he hadn't been around?

 _Yep, girls were weird._

Emerald stopped laughing with a hiccup, looking at him in the same way mom did whenever he asked something stupid.

"Yes, yes it was. Come on!", she said, running off into the bowels of the old house. Jaune quickly followed her, not very eager to be alone in the dark house.

What was Em's problem? Weren't girls supposed to be scared of dark places?

The two small children hurried into the old house, the girl feeling more cheerful and the boy trying not to show that he was scared stiff.

* * *

 **Come now, Emerald. Did you seriously expect that a crazy kid who is currently hiding someone he knows for little more than a week after risking his life to save her is a guy who'd mind a little lock picking and theft? He's obviously a little cuckoo.**

 **After all, he forges documents to get into Beacon later. It's a match made in the Youth Penitentiary!:)**

 **To be slightly more serious, I hope we realise that Emerald is not totally okay with her position with Jaune. As a miserable child who's gained a major windfall lately, she's obviously going with the flow as if it's a dream, but she's still very aware that she doesn't belong with him, and is only along because Jaune has a hero complex a mile wide (remember how he went to help Ruby in his first real appearance and saved Cardin from the Ursa) and that an omnipotent being(me) is directing them together.**

 **Hope for her to be happy, and please leave a review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**The soundtrack is out too. Good for me, I get to hear Triumph.**

 **RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and is created by Monty Oum, Miles Luna, Kerry Shawcross and many others.**

* * *

It took them about fifteen minutes to find the only furnished bedroom in the house. The old and dusty room utterly horrified Jaune, but to Emerald, it was the best place she had ever been in. The street urchin slowly spun around to take in all of the room, and even Jaune looked mildly impressed at the sheer size and luxury of the bedroom. The floor was of dark wood that looked oddly crimson, matching the portraits on the walls of massive forests of trees as red as blood. The ceiling was so high that a tall man could for in twice over with ease while stained glass windows at the end completed the picture of aristocratic luxury.

And red. Lots and lots of red.

Emerald's eyes couldn't stay on one place for a minute, darting all around the room as she eyed everything with childish wonder. The portraits on the walls that cost more money than she had seen in all her life combined, the rich furnishing and the expensive antiques on the fireplace mantel. An ebony and ivory rendition of two conjoined snakes that were coiled around each other with languid grace, the copper statue of a regal looking man with a strange sceptre in one hand and a longsword raised towards the sky, a beautiful vase with two golden axes engraved upon it and a small figurine of what looked like two men of black and white standing with their backs to each other.

"He was in the Great War."Jaune said in a hushed tone. He made as if to touch the copper statue, thought better of it, and simply turned to look at the sword in it's hand. Like Crocea Mors, the family sword that was gathering dust nowadays. Every man in his family had been warriors for generations, and the sword had been wielded in the Great War.

What it would be like to hold that sword? He had tried once, but it had been much to heavy to even budge for his small arms. Mom hadn't found out, and he hadn't been telling that he had sneaked in there.

For a small moment, he tried to imagine himself holding that sword. Tall and clad in armour, with his sword and shield held aloft in his hands, facing down a great evil that had ravaged the land. Like the Knights in stories, he would attack and attack and attack, no matter how many times it threw him away like a leaf in the wind. He would not stay down, and would face it again and again, until he got the smallest of openings in the enemy's guard. Then he would swoop in for the kill, his sword removing the monster's head or impaling it in a thrust. Then he would stand proudly, the hero that saved the day.

With a start, he got out of that daydream. It wasn't something he could pull off. He didn't have a sword, or training, or even the "Aura" thing. He hadn't even _known_ about Aura until he had tried to find out about Emerald's powers. Emerald, who had gained the power before him just by chance, who was now stronger than he could ever be, who was now...

Looking at the bed with wonder in her eyes.

And just like that, that line of thought disappeared. He turned to the room and began to inspect it on sleeping quality.

* * *

"It's so... _big!_ ", Emerald said with hushed awe in her voice as she approached the massive double poster bed. She lifted the dust laden maroon bedsheets with great reverence, running a hand on the silky cloth. In all her life, she had never actually _touched_ silk, only seen it through shop windows and wondered what it would be like to touch it...it was smooth and warm to the touch. Exactly like she had imagined.

She wondered what it would feel like to sleep on it...

"It's a dump!", Jaune's opinion was, of course, diametrically opposite. He ran a finger over the frame of the bed, and looked with horror as his finger came out as black as soot. Emerald gave him a glare for his blunt disapproval, but he didn't even look her way, much to her annoyance. This was her room he was dissing!

Jaune, however, blithely continued to talk.

"We'll have to clean it up for you to sleep here. There's lots of dust around, might give you an allergy. The sheets are still here, so there's no rats. That's something, I guess. The curtains look filthy." He lifted the expensive pieces of silk with a lack of regard that horrified Emerald." No idea how to wash this though, maybe water is still work- _what are you doing?!"_

The last exclamation had been due to how Emerald had casually jumped on the dusty silk sheet, causing a cloud of dust to erupt that reduced Jaune to coughing and waving his hands around. Undaunted by the dust, Emerald was rolling over the soft bed. She felt like she was in paradise whenever she laid down on the rich mattress that was so soft that she was sinking inside it. The pillows were briefly picked up and then discarded as useless. Even as the dust settled and Jaune gave her a baleful look, she laid herself on her back, and closed her eyes. Serve him right, she thought groggily as she snuggled into the bed.

It felt better than she had ever felt in her life. Each muscle and bone in her body was, for once, being comfortably supported by the soft bed she was on. This bed was fit for royalty, let alone street rats that were used to sleeping on cold, hard ground. It was softer and warmer than anything she had slept on for a very, very long time, as far back as her memories went. Maybe it had been so comfortable with her mother when she was little, whoever she may have been...

The warmth and comfort was summarily interrupted by an inconvenient blow to the face.

With a squeak, Emerald jolted awake (had she been sleeping?!) to see a grinning Jaune holding one of the gigantic pillows in his hands. She looked at the pillow, then at his face, then at the pillow again. A growl started to build up in her throat as she recognised just what had awakened her from the best sleep of her life.

"Did you", she said in a deadly whisper,"just hit me with that pillow?"

Jaune's face was innocence itself."Well, I felt like it's wrong to make a girl sleep on a dirty old bed like this, so I was just removing the dust on the bed. Doesn't it look cleaner now?" He gave the pillow a look of mock approval. "I say it _does"._

He gave the most innocent of smiles in her direction, with only his eyes gleaming in mischief. As Emerald snarled, he hefted his pillow in both arms, and gave a grin that was reminiscent of the dogs that sometimes chased her.

So this was how he was playing it? _Fine!_

Emerald's face also slipped into a wide, bloodthirsty grin as she picked up another pillow from the bed and got a good grip on it.

Jaune's face was a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Emerald's grin widened as red eyes fastened on him.

In moments, the two kids were rolling over the bed trying to hit the other with their weapons. Jaune caught Emerald with a round smack on her head first with his greater experience in pillow fights with his sisters. However, Emerald was undaunted, holding her pillow as a makeshift shield to deflect his blows with the accumulated experience of the streets.

Jaune grunted as his offence was proven useless against Emerald's newfound strength, trying to find a way around her defences. Emerald spied the weakness in his defence in an instant, swinging her pillow around to catch him on his chest, nearly pushing him off the bed altogether. Jaune's brows furrowed. The battle was going badly.

Seeing that her foe was on the backfoot, Emerald pushed her offensive, raining continuous blows on the beleaguered defender, pushing him more and more towards the brink. Jaune grunted as he saw the futility of trying to meet her head on. But he kept his head cool despite the peril he was in, and quickly devised a counterattack.

When Emerald continued to push the attack relentlessly, Jaune surprised her by throwing his pillow right onto her face. Stunned, Emerald was unable to account for the boy tackling her onto the mattress. Jaune's greater size proved useful as he effortlessly toppled her onto the bed.

But Emerald wasn't beaten yet. With her enhanced strength, she _heaved,_ forcing Jaune away from her and toppling him in turn. Jaune merely grinned.

The reason was clear a moment later. While she may have been _stronger,_ her Aura didn't make her _heavier._ And at the end of the day, Emerald was a very small and slight girl while Jaune was tall and strong for his age. Lifting her off him was effortless for him. But Emerald was determined not to lose, gripping him tightly and wrestling back with fury.

The kids' struggle proved to be too much for the questionable grip the smooth sheets offered, and both fell to the wooden floor with twin cries of "Eep!". Tangled in the bedsheets, they wrestled futilely for a few seconds before Jaune found the end of the sheet and managed to unravel them. They looked into each other's faces for a moment before the ridiculousness of the situation caught up, and they started laughing.

Within a few minutes, they had stopped laughing. After recuperating for a few more, they began to arrange everything properly on Jaune's insistence. The sheets were dusted and rearranged, Jaune used a rag to clean the metal posts to a shine. Some of the nearby clutter was quickly removed to the hall and they stashed the bread and biscuits in the unused fireplace. If she needed to light a fire, they could go into the large old cupboard in the hall with ease.

After the task was done, Jaune looked approvingly at the (relatively) clean bedroom.  
"Now _this_ is what a bedroom should be like! Right, Em?"

Emerald rolled her eyes. "Right, right. Now can we go out? I like this place, but I'm scared that you'll make me _clean it up_ more, you madman I want to s _leep_ here, not cleanup!"

Jaune had the grace to look guilty."Well, you know what it's like. Mom always makes me clean my bedroom, so its kind of...a habit, really. A good one, but there you are!" He laughed awkwardly.

Emerald rolled her eyes and pulled him to the door by his sleeve. At the door again, she carefully readjusted the lock with her wire. There was no way to know that it had been broken into at all.

"You know, Em?", Jaune asked, looking at her put the wire into her blouse with fascination."You have to teach me that trick someday."

Emerald blushed and played with her skirt. _Boys..._

* * *

 **On behalf of the boys, Emerald, I assure you that not all of us are like that. Most of us would try to pretend that we aren't interested...**

 **A grave battle was fought between the tiny heroes of Remnant, and both emerged triumphant. Truly a battle fit for the epics. The pillow fight was based on the Chibi skit, and was mostly started because Jaune was both kind of furious about having dust thrown in his face and was still subconsciously resentful of Emerald for getting stronger than him and therefore took it out on her in the most harmless way he could think of.**

 **One of the above two reasons is a lie. Which one, depends upon your interpretation of the scene and character of Jaune Arc. I'm not talking.;)**

 **Jaune's little daydream was a later addition. There had to be _some point_ where he gained such a deep regard for Huntsmen that he nearly got himself killed many times over in a foolhardy attempt to be one. While Canon Jaune may have had another reasons and another point, Topaz!Jaune is my little thing, and this was how I imagined it. By looking at a former war hero's stuff.**

 **Oh, and Ozpin was here too.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here we are, and at the eight chapter to boot. Please do leave reviews.**

 **RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and was made by Monty Oum, Miles Luna, Kerry Shawcross and many others.**

* * *

The old, sleepy village in North-Central Vale, known on the Kingdom maps as "Orleans", and by the local villagers as simply "The Village", was witness one sleepy morning ,two weeks after the Arc family returned, to young Jaune Arc moving to The Inn with a far more reluctant female friend.

"Come on, Em! It'll work out! Trust me!", Jaune Arc spoke out, pulling a smaller green haired girl with him. Despite the boy being far taller, he seemed to be the one who was actually exerting in pulling her.

"Can't we just wait until tonight? What's even the hurry? Let's get there after the people are gone!", the green headed girl snapped, pulling back her arm with ease and nearly making Jaune stumble. For a moment, she flinched and stopped fighting , but Jaune simply took her hesitation as agreement.

"Why delay it longer than we need to? If we get you to work there today, you can sleep there today too! No need to sleep in that old-" He was cut off by the girl slapping a hand onto his mouth to shut him up.

"Quiet!", she hissed. Looking around cautiously to see an almost empty area with only the sound of the milkman in the distance, she relaxed and took her hand off the chastened blonde's mouth. "You know you shouldn't scream about that. I'd get arrested!"

"Sorry.", muttered Jaune. He took a glance around as well, and continued in a lower voice." But still! I know you like that place, but...well, I won't be able to get you food when school starts next week. The sooner we settle this, the better. And The Inn has good beds too.

 _But not as good as the ones in that house_ , thought Emerald with a faint trace of longing. The beds had been very comfortable and she had the best sleep ever when on them, but...there were problems.

There was no water there for the night. The only food she got was when Jaune brought her some, and she was unable and unwilling to steal some from anywhere. The guard was a menace and had already entered the area twice in the two weeks she had been here when she made too much noose, forcing her to hide away with her semblance for hours until he was satisfied and left. There was the time when he had decided to sleep inside to catch the noises, forcing her to stay awake the entire night out of paranoia. And now Jaune was telling her that he wouldn't be able to bring her food...

It had been too good to last. For a moment, Emerald felt a stab of bitterness at losing the best bed of her life, before it was quashed by her practical nature. No use crying over spilt milk.

She mumbled something like assent and proceeded to walk alongside Jaune to the large wooden building in the southern fringe of the town. To her silent relief, Jaune didn't walk right through the front door, but instead slipped through the side to a small wooden door by the side.

"Here we are!", he said proudly, gesturing at the door. Emerald though, had all her doubts come forward at the same time.

It wasn't that she had never worked in her short life. She had hawked wares, sold flyers, did odd jobs and cleaned the fronts of shops for enough money to get by. The rest, she stole. She wasn't worried about working honestly for a living, especially if she got regular work... It was only that she knew that it didn't work out well.

If anything was lost or stolen, she would be blamed for it. The only guarantee she had that she would be paid in full was how generous her employer felt that day or whether they needed her again. No guarantee existed that they would have to treat her well. She had been starved, beaten, tormented and kicked out by her masters before. Nobody was willing to employ street rats for long, even as cheap workers. Why would this place be different?

But Jaune didn't know that.

That was what it came back to. Jaune didn't know this, and she wasn't telling him. He should keep some of his innocence with him. It was what made being with him so wonderful, that she could simply pretend that the world was a nice, kindly place where people like him existed.

Besides, she didn't really have a choice anyways. Without Jaune, she would starve, so she would have to work there anyways.

Still, she hesitated.

Jaune huffed in irritation, and simply got up to the door and knocked loudly. Footsteps rang out in a minute.

Emerald yelped, jumping back. Before she could run, hide or use her semblance the door clicked open.

A tall , rather pretty brown haired girl of about fourteen or so stood there with a wooden ladle in hand, wearing a messy apron with a bird stitched on it. Her eyes fell upon Jaune, ignoring her completely, and she gave a rather terrifying scowl.

"And what are you doing here today, Jaune Arc?". Her nervousness forgotten, Emerald was at the point of jumping in to drag Jaune away before she noticed that her blonde friend was grinning.

"Morning, Marie.", he said cheerfully. " Did you miss me? How's Mrs Holz and Lily? Can I talk to Mrs Holz ? And are there any pastries to spare?"

The girl's frown melted away into something like amused frustration. She put her hands at her hips to look down at the younger boy.

"No, I didn't . They are fine and well. Yes, you can. And I think there are. Come on in, and your friend too. What's your name, kid?" She asked Emerald, opening the door for them.

Addressed for the first time, Emerald stood up straighter and tried to make the best impression possible.

"Em-Emerald, madam!", she blushed fiercely at how stupid that sounded to a girl barely older than her.

Marie raised an eyebrow, her freckled face looking down at her impassively. Emerald gulped.

"Do I", she asked testily, "look like a madam to you?"

"No-no ma-miss!", Emerald blurted out.

She shrank a little under Marie's stern gaze.

Then, the last of the older girl's sternness faded away as she let out a small cackle of laughter. She grabbed and pulled Emerald in before she could even think of reacting .

"You're his friend alright. Come on in! Figures that a friend of this blond idiot would bring a girl like you.", Marie Holz said with a chuckle at the end.

She soon led them to a small room , and told them to wait until she could get her mother. Promising to bring the pastries as well soon, Marie Holz walked away swiftly.

Alone in the room, Emerald studiously tried to ignore Jaune's victorious smirk.

"Told you to trust me", he said in a singsong voice.

"Shut up", Emerald said with a terrifying pout.

* * *

They were alone for about five minutes in that room(a time which they spent quickly practicing their story) before Marie returned with both her promised pastries, and one of the most intimidating women Emerald had ever seen. Her mother, the Innkeeper and Emerald's future host if everything went well: Mrs Aquila Holz.

Mrs Holz was a very tall woman, coming at well above six feet. Her arms were enormously muscled and looked like they could tear a man in half. Her chestnut brown hair was going grey at the temples, framing a face that looked like it was chiselled out of stone.

Emerald instantly understood one fact about her without needing to remember Jaune's hurried explanations: that is was not a woman to be crossed.

"Arc, the woman in question said in a deep, gravelly tone. " you told me that you found someone who can help me with the Inn for the year. And all I can see with you is a tiny girl as small as yourself who looks like she can't lift a kettle. What is the meaning of this?"

Her gimlet like eyes fell on Emerald, who meekly hid behind Jaune. Jaune, for his part, seemed to be the only one who was completely at ease.

"Mrs Holz! Uhm, I wasn't completely honest with you on this-"

"That I can guess.", observed the woman drily.

"-but I can explain everything.", Jaune continued seamlessly. "Well, Em here doesn't have anywhere to live, and you said that you always need help whenever Marie and Sophie aren't here during most of the year. So, I wanted to propose that Em could, maybe, help you out and...stay here too?" He ended hopefully.

Emerald cringed a little and poked Jaune's back to make him stop messing up. They had a plan! Couldn't he stick to it?

Mrs Holz simply raised an eyebrow." She's too young to work here, Arc. You know that. She's a little more than ten at best and looks like a reed. I need someone closer to Sophie's age for the work. Sorry kid, but she can't stay here."

She paused and her expression softened just a little. "Though I can maybe give her some blankets and such for sleeping. That's all."

"That's really nice, mam', but there's another thing here.", Jaune said very slowly, giving a backward glance towards Emerald, who nervously stepped out from behind him. He gestured her towards a large drawer with his eyes, and she walked carefully towards it, trying to ignore the old woman's confused glare. She reached it, quickly grabbed the heavy piece of furniture...

And lifted it cleanly off the ground.

The hitherto silent Marie gasped loudly, her mother taking a much more subdued but equally shocked inhale. The Innkeeper's eyes moved quickly from Emerald, still lifting the drawers with ease over her head, to Jaune.

"Sit down, both of you." She said sharply. "Marie leave the pastries here, get some root beer for these two and then take care of the kitchens without me this morning. I need to speak with both of these two brats."

* * *

The impromptu interview in the disused room wasn't something that Emerald didn't expect, but that didn't stop her from feeling nervous. She nervously fingered her bottle of root beer, not even tasting it. The tension in the room was more than enough to kill her appetite.

Jaune, on the other hand, was casually chomping down on the chocolate pastries while chugging down the bottle. He seemed to be completely immune to the tension that was driving Emerald nuts.

Mrs Holz was the first to break the silence, with the abrupt bluntness that seemed to be characteristic of her.

"Does your father know?", she asked Jaune. Jaune shook his head, to which she frowned, more in thought than actual anger.

"How long have you had your Aura unlocked, girl?", she asked Emerald. Both she and Jaune blinked at the unexpected question. What did that matter? They had thought that she would be more interested in what powers she had and where she was from.

Emerald tried to think back to her old life. "Just about three weeks, mam. I was about to get stabbed when the knife bent against my skin...no, not just that." A sudden surge of memories came, events that she had deemed inconsequential and half forgotten, but had returned with a vengeance in the last few weeks as she came to terms with her newfound abilities.

"A dog tried to bite me, but the fangs didn't hurt my leg. I got hurt badly, but it healed quickly. I did things like jumping over fences when I was in trouble. It only used to happen if I was really in trouble, and even then only sometimes. Stopping the knife was the biggest thing it ever did, though."

Mrs Holz was silent for a long moment. "I see.", she said finally, eyeing Emerald carefully.

"Do you have a semblance?", she asked.

Emerald's thoughts raced again as she tried to think of the correct answer, but Jaune beat her to it.

"She does, it's illusions- yow!", he yelped as Emerald discreetly kicked him under the table for revealing her Illusion semblance. Because that was what the two of them had agreed it was.

Yes, it was illusions. She could see and hear herself whenever she became invisible, but nobody else could. She had only used her power on someone three times, and each time with just one other person around. And that person had been unable to see or hear her.

This was a power only she had, and she was unwilling to let it become common knowledge. Jaune, unfortunately, had destroyed that plan completely. Seemed like he had been taken off guard by the stern woman.

"Show me.", the Innkeeper ordered. Emerald stood up, and obliged, though not without another glare at Jaune. With a single thought, she was rendered invisible. Mrs Holz narrowed her eyes even as the green haired girl disappeared from her sight completely.

"Impressive.", breathed the older woman, her eyes on where Emerald used to be.

Jaune, however, was nonplussed. "Er, Em? I can still see you."

Both the female's eyes turned to him in surprise. Emerald concentrated on him to make it work properly but...

"And I can see you now. Stop trying too hard. I can see what the issue is here.", Mrs Holz said, her tone back to it's crisp business like self. She looked both intrigued and slightly worried.

Mrs Holz stood up, towering above them with her brows furrowed in thought. Eventually, she spoke.

"It seems like it really is what you said, an illusions semblance. One that can make one person, but no more, see things. The girl is obviously unable to master it yet, and I can't see it change soon. The rest of her Aura is not bad, though I am sure that she's more proficient with it purely due to how long she has had it than any unusual amount of it. Altogether, exemplary, but not too much so."

She gazed at her, then at Jaune's hopeful face. "She can stay here, as long as she helps out every now and then. She can sleep in Sophie's room for now, and we can make other arrangements if she's still here until next holidays."

Emerald sighed in relief as Jaune gave a whoop of victory. Shaking her head, Mrs Holz turned to leave.

"Stay for breakfast if you like, Arc. I'll tell your mother that you're here again. And omit anything related to green haired girls you may or may not have brought to me." With a small chuckle, the tall woman left the room.

With a relieved sigh, Emerald fell back into her chair, before sitting up straight as she felt Jaune's gaze on her.

"What?", she asked. He wasn't going to start gloating again, was he? She was really too tired for that.

He blinked. "Jumping over fences." It managed to be both a statement and a question.

Emerald's eyes gleamed with the slightest amount of pride.

"It's a long story", she said as she started telling said story with a little embellishments, the smell of the delicious meal cooking below wafting up to the room.

This was a good place to call home.

* * *

 **Credits to Mrs Holz, a character that I made when first planning for this fic. I don't think I need to state the obvious over how she knows much about Aura, semblances and the like, and yet is running an Inn in a village in the middle of nowhere. She has reasons for that, of course. Pretty simple ones. Her name, BTW, refers to the German word for wood or timber. I thought it would suit an earthy person who reminds you of a great Oak tree, strong and firmly respectable.**

 **For the others, Marie Holz, who we saw here, is fourteen years of age and the younger daughter of Aquila Holz. Her elder sister is Sophie Holz, of sixteen years of age. They are freckled, tall, green eyed and brown haired girls who have lived in a village for all their lives.**

 **Finally and most importantly, Jaune and Emerald. Jaune managed not to mess up too badly here(though he's damn lucky that Mrs Holz decided to be cooperative) and Emerald has a place that she can call home. This is FAR from the last time she, and by extension us, will see that old house, so I hope you can remember it for a while. But for now. It isn't important.**

 **Good day/ni** **ght to you all. Please review!:)**


	9. Chapter 9

**I think that it's pretty hilarious that nobody commented on the fact that I named the village Orleans. It's both the village in France Jeane D'Arc was associated with but also a word for Golden, hence following the Colour Rule. So** **metimes you seriously get lucky breaks while writing. :)**

 **Please enjoy the chapter! Do drop a review.**

 **RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and the creation of Monty Oum, Miles Luna, Kerry Shawcross and many others.**

* * *

The breakfast arrived in half an hour, brought by Marie as her mother went back to handling the tenants and other jobs. When Emerald saw the meal she nearly let out a squeal of joy.

It was a fine and hot meal of home made bread, pastries and cakes, with home made jam and home made honey in dishes. A pitcher of milk with an abundance of cream and a plate of pink pieces of ham completed the picture.

Without further ado, Jaune and Emerald tore into it with the enormous appetites common to ten(and soon to be eleven) year old children with an overabundance of energy. Marie was slightly more restrained, but her work in the kitchens had left her as hungry as a Beowolf, and it was about all she could do to not imitate Jaune, who was currently trying to drink a large glass of milk while his mouth was stuffed to bursting with ham.

Paradoxically, Emerald was more civilized. She quickly chewed through a piece of toast while keeping her mouth shut before she swallowed and started on the honey. She absolutely loved it ever since Jaune had slipped her some bread with honey on it when she had first came with him. Therefore, her bread had honey on both sides, making a very sweet and sticky meal.

When their initial hunger was somewhat sated, Marie asked Emerald about where she had come from.

"I'm from Vale, actually.", Emerald replied. "I wasn't finding any good work there, so I decided to pick a train for villages where I might be able to get some."

"Don't you have family you could go to, though? I'm pretty sure a kid like you can make herself useful at the house of some old aunt that needs a pair of young hands or just some company?", Marie paused. "Kind of like mum, actually. She is alone for most of the year when I am off to school and Sophie is off to Signal."

Emerald gave the slightest of frowns and shook her head. If she had had any family, they had long abandoned her or died. Either way, she neither knew nor cared if she had more.

She did, when she was young. She had seen other children who had parents with them. A father and a mother that would love and care for them. She had dreamed, when the nights were a little colder and her stomach a little more empty but she had to sleep anyway, of a family that _loved_ her and would take her away. Nobody ever came. And she gave up the thought when she had grown older.

Jaune secretly laid a hand on her knee under the table. Over it, Marie gave a fierce frown. Despite herself, Emerald felt her spirits rise at both these actions.

"That just won't do. Listen here, girly. As long as you're here, you've got a home you can fit in. Mum may never tell us, but I can tell that she gets weary all alone whenever we're not around, so you'll be a godsend for her. I help her out with the kitchens, cause I'm a dab hand with food and always make the best grub(I made this food, by the way) and Sophie helps with the books and the heavy stuff, since she's got Huntsman training and all." She eyed Emerald speculatively. " I don't ask you to take over for both of us or something. Just...make life easier for mom when we're not around. That little trick with the drawers you did was pretty fine, so you don't have to worry about nothing even if she asks you to do some heavy stuff, not that mum ever will, of course. Good thing you have your Aura."

She chewed some ham thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, who unlocked your Aura? Must have been someone in Vale. Most people in villages like these don't know that Aura even is a thing, let alone unlock it."

Suddenly , Jaune decided that this was his time to cut in. "Give her a break, Marie. She's hungry. You don't want me to eat your share of ham now, would you?"

Marie yelped as she saw that he had pilfered the last of the ham while she was talking. Jaune cheekily put the ham back, eyes twinkling. The elder girl rolled her eyes.

"Little scamp. You go and eat those dinosaur nuggets of yours, Jaune Arc, and leave my ham alone."

Jaune blushed scarlet as Marie cackled. Emerald silently thanked Jaune for diverting the girl from the rather uncomfortable line of questioning. The two seemed to be friendly with each other, she realised. They knew each other well, made jokes at each other's expense, and took them in good faith. They were very close to each other.

For some reason, she didn't like that thought. She didn't want to feel left out.

"There's nothing wrong with me eating nuggets!", yelled Jaune, trying to make Marie shut up. The girl smirked.

"Say that four years from now, kid. You and your nuggets will not part ways till you go to college, and the rest of the kids will tease you mercilessly for that. Jaune Arc, the kid who eats dinosaur nuggets!", she teased mercilessly, fending off Jaune's weak punches with a single strong brown hand. "Didn't your mom tell you not to hit girls, Jaune?"

Jaune stopped trying to punch her, his cheeks puffed and face bright red face." You see. I'll be a Huntsman like dad, and I'll be the strongest Huntsman in Beacon. I'll kill hundreds of Beowolves, beat Ursa with one blow, like this" he mimed swinging a sword to behead a giant bear. " and even beat villains. I'll be a hero like dad and everyone else!"

Marie cackled again. Emerald had started to realise that this was just how she laughed. "Go on with you. Killing Ursa with one blow. You can't even win against your sisters. The Grimm will chew you up and spit you out unless some strong kid takes pity on you and saves your neck." Jaune stuck out his tongue at her, making Emerald let out a giggle.

It was true that he really couldn't win against any girl he fought (she alone could beat him!) But she had to say that Jaune really didn't do himself any favours. While he was tall and strong for his age, he was also so goofy and dumb that he probably wouldn't be able to handle himself in a fight. She couldn't help but feel amused at the thought of Jaune looking like that statue in the mansion, holding an oversized sword that he fumbled constantly and trying to fight giant monsters.

Then she remembered his fight with Tin Reynard, where he had beaten the most dangerous kid she knew into a pulp despite getting a little hurt himself, and reassessed her opinion. Jaune wasn't a good fighter by any means, but he did have the heart in him. He was brave and didn't stop if he was hurt. He didn't get scared or lose his nerve if he got hit, and kept trying to win until he did..

Yes, he had the heart.

All of a sudden, Emerald reimagined him fighting. She had never seen one of the Beasts of Extinction face to face, but she had heard stories when she eavesdropped on people who had.

Vast, powerful demons that were made of darkness made flesh. Tougher than trees and stone and iron and faster than horses. They had masks that were supposed to be made of the bones of the animals that they once were, before they were cursed into becoming monsters because of their sins. Eyes as red as cinders and with nothing but unceasing hatred for all people. Only kept from killing everyone by Huntsmen and Huntresses, with only the people inside the Kingdom walls being truly safe.

And then she imagined Jaune, currently trying to ignore Marie's teasing, fighting one of them. He had the sword like last time. He ran at the monster, which seemed to be so large that it covered the sky. It lunged and hit him, and he got up again, and again and again, no matter how much it hurt him.

She didn't like the thought at all.

As she finished her meal and Jaune left for home, she decided that he would never be alone if he had to fight them.

* * *

Jaune left for home after the meal was finished, but not before quietly telling Emerald to remember to remove the sheets and all evidence of her stay at the mansion whenever she could slip out. He didn't really need to. She knew to hide evidence of her existence.

Meanwhile, she was brought before Mrs Holz in a larger room to be told her duties and chores in the house, as well as all the things she needed to know to stay at the Inn.

"I don't expect you would be much use in the kitchen or the books, am I right?", the tall woman questioned. Emerald shook her head. She knew how to read, a skill that was invaluable for someone who lived off odd jobs she could get, but about all she could do with numbers took her fingers to do. And she didn't really understand the big words either. Cooking was just as alien to someone who subsisted off leftovers.

"I see. Doesn't really matter. You will help with cleaning and maintaining your own bedroom, and will also help me do some light cleaning when asked. We require some groceries for ourselves from time to time, and you can get some. You will have next to nothing to do for a few days until the girls leave, so you can rest for a while. After that, the work starts."

"I can still take care of the books, tenants and kitchens, but you will have to lend a hand oftentimes. You are stronger than any grown man by far and not even a car can hurt you, so you don't need to be worried about getting hurt or anything. All the same, I will do most of the work. All you have to do is follow me and do as I say. Understood?"

Emerald nodded dutifully. This was easily the lightest job she had ever taken. Most of the time, she had to work all day to make enough money to buy food, and tedious, boring work at that. Like handing out flyers or cleaning shop fronts. In comparison, she was getting free board and meals here just for throwaway work.

Seriously, getting groceries? That barely even counted as work!

But the Innkeeper continued speaking.

"And yes, you will not reveal that you have Aura to anyone here, especially Jaune's family. The people here barely even know that Aura exists, let alone how to use it. They will not like the idea of an outsider who has powers like yours. You are not known around here, and will inspire distrust. Remember this, girl, that you must try to hide your Aura for an year or so, until you have enough friends here to cover for you. Do you understand?"

Emerald nodded. She had expected to be mistrusted even before this, when she was coming to this place. This was no different from what she expected to do anyway. Nobody trusted a street rat...except Jaune, that is. And these people too, though they trusted Jaune's friend more than they trusted her.

It was an important distinction.

The woman continued. "Your Aura is definitely not something you should flaunt like an idiot, but it's also something you wouldn't want to neglect. Aura is the soul itself, and can make you tough as hell if you learn to use it properly _, but you must learn to control it._ " The extra emphasis on her words made Emerald feel a little unnerved, even though Mrs Holz hadn't raised her voice or changed her tone.

"I don't know how to control it further.", she breathed out, feeling the old woman's gimlet like eyes upon her." I pretty much just let it grow naturally. Is that wrong?"

"No", she said bluntly." But it's unreliable. Won't do at all." She seemed to be ruminating for a few seconds." If you do your job well, and I can find some time, then I can teach you. Will that do?"

Emerald didn't really care, but she nodded nevertheless. Aura was pretty useful, but she wasn't very enthusiastic about what promised to be tedious training over something that she doubted would net any benefits. She was pretty sure she wasn't very strong with this thing, or else she wouldn't have gotten beaten up so many times.

How did this woman know how to train Aura anyway? Was she a Huntress? Sure didn't look it, running an Inn with two daughters. She didn't even have one of the fancy weapons she had seen on Huntsmen. _Did_ she really know?

Not that it mattered. If she could train her, good. If not, then nothing lost.

Mrs Holz took her reaction as assent and nodded to her to tell her that she could leave for now. Before she could leave, she called out to her.

"Marie will be trying out some new recipe in the kitchens. You're sleeping together tonight, so make sure to ask her beforehand. And keep an eye on her before she makes some horror for lunch. Kitchen is downstairs, the big door with the curved knob."

Emerald nodded to show her assent and sprinted off in the direction of the stairs.

* * *

The kitchen was a long and wide room with a fridge larger than even Mrs Holz in the corner, a wide variety of pots and pans hanging from the walls, and a large oven near the end. The ceiling was absurdly high and the entire room was painted what must have been white at a time, but was now bearing the signs of age.

Marie was standing near the end of the room, stirring a large pot with a ladle, several other pots and kettles spread out in front of her. Even as Emerald watched, she took out a spoonful and sniffed at it experimentally. It was obviously not as she wished, as she frowned and turned to get some salt, her eyes falling on Emerald in the process.

"Heya, kid. You need something? I'm kind of busy right now.", Marie said with a grin as she carefully added a pinch of salt to the dish. Another ladle and her satisfied expression said that whatever the problem had been, it was fixed now.

"Mrs Holz told me to help you out here, and to ask you where-. ", Emerald started, before her attention went to the pot. "Is that your new recipe that Mrs Holz talked about? Can I see?"

Marie grinned. "Come here and see. It ain't ready yet, but I'm trying to make it better. Come on, I'll lift you so that you can see."

She then matched action with word as she placed her arms around Emerald's waist and lifted her off the ground. Between Emerald's small and frail frame and the strength of the older girl, Emerald was easily lifted a foot or so off the ground, much to her mixed excitement and glee. Marie carefully held the small girl so that she could look over the pot.

Emerald saw a thick, orange coloured gravy with pieces of meat sticking out. Chicken, she remembered mentally. She had frequented butchers often and knew what the pieces looked like by heart. The gravy had a strong and delicious aroma of what seemed like fresh tomatoes and cream. A white dollop on top was clearly said cream, a very rich and delicious looking sample of it. The chicken itself was large and juicy and tender, and made Emerald's mouth water from the very look of it. When Marie carefully lowered her to the floor, Emerald felt like she had been pulled back from the gates of paradise.

"That dish looks wonderful. What is it called? Did you make it yourself? Can I see again?, Emerald gushed, looking for once like the childish and cheerful young girl she should have been and seemed to be. Food simply had that effect on her, and this one was so beautiful that it reminded her of every good thing she knew. When people gave her food in the streets, Jaune saving her, the bed at the mansion, sleeping under a roof...it's aroma was as paradise to her nose.

Marie grinned at the praise. "Aye, I made it myself, though I haven't decided on a name yet. I just kind of wanted to experiment, see, and thought this little thing up. Wanna know how I make it?"

Emerald nodded vigorously.

The older girl gave a fake cough to clear her throat, and then started describing her magnum opus." First, you take the juiciest, meatiest chicken around and marinate( I mean soak) it in lemon juice, salt, and some Mistrali herbs you won't know. Leave it aside till it's done (takes about half an hour or so) and make some gravy while you wait."

"Now the gravy might be too complicated for you, but I'll just say it has tomatoes and onions and some butter left to cook. Better make it really good and creamy. The gravy was a hit with the guests here even before I got a hand on it and decided I should use it with my chicken. Talking of chicken, we get to that now. Cook the gravy well first.

"Then comes the chicken, and-you following me, kid?" She asked Emerald. The younger girl slowly nodded, enraptured. "Good, so we grill the chicken, and we just throw it in!", she finished triumphantly.

Emerald started clapping. Marie blushed a little.

"It sounds wonderful! Can I stay and watch?", Emerald said excitedly. Marie made as if mulling it over, but Emerald looked so much like a puppy that had been promised a walk that she capitulated.

"Sure, just stand here and let me do the needful. First time I'll have a little audience in here, and I intend to enjoy your acclaim. Let's go, kid."

Emerald whooped and soon the two girls were engaged in the culinary arts, lasting until lunchtime and making both a delicious new dish and a strong friendship.

Shortest way to the heart indeed. Good food simply had an effect of making people happy.

* * *

 **A full chapter more or less devoted to Emerald learning her place in an Inn. And before you ask, yes, I am heavily cribbing from Enid Blyton.**

 **The main issue I had with this chapter was that it simply _introduced_ things. Emerald's friendship with Marie, Jaune's dream being common knowledge in Orleans, Emerald's fear of Jaune getting into more than he can chew, and of course, my pair (or rather trio, but the third will come much later) of OCs. While it made this chapter a little clunky, I had to make sure every detail was correct.**

 **Hope you had fun reading this. Please review. Good night/day! :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**This fic finally crossed the hallmark of over a hundred follows. And to think I intended to finish it at four chapters... Huh.**

 **All that I request is that you leave reviews. Even if they are just a few words, they encourage me to continue this fic.:)**

 **So, RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and the creation of Monty Oum, Miles Luna, Kerry Shawcross and many, many others.**

* * *

Jaune took the long route around to get home. While he really didn't have much to do before lunch, he knew he would get bored if he reached home too early.

Oh, and then there were Jade and Lapis. He really didn't like the idea of meeting them if they were bored enough to make him "play dress up" with them.

No sir, he had had his share of modelling girly clothes!

Finally, he reached his home with about half an hour left to lunch. He really didn't feel like delaying longer with Emerald not around to play with and his stomach starting to remind him that he really didn't eat as much ham as he should have .

The Arc house was a beautiful little cottage that stood in the middle of a lush green garden of flowers. While modest in design, the cottage was nevertheless larger than half the houses in the village and was beautifully well maintained and clean. A single glance would tell all who saw it that the family living within were of modest but respectable station in life.

Jaune entered without knocking, slipping off his dirty shoes and quickly slipping to the kitchen for a quick drink of water. His mother was inside, checking a stove with a couple of pots happily steaming upon it. He quickly filled a glass with water from the pitcher and gulped the cold liquid down. Suddenly, the aroma from the pot reached his nose, and he recognised the smell of one of his favourite dishes.

He ran up to where his mother was stirring the stove, catching her attention. However, his own attention was on the second pot left to cool down by the stove.

"Are we having fish for lunch? Can I see?", he tried to jump up to catch a look at his favoured dish. Madam Arc frowned.

"Don't do that, dear. You'll topple the whole thing. Here, but just once."

She bent down, tall as she was, and lifted the small boy so that he could peer over the pot. "There, did you see? Now go and wash. We will be eating in ten minutes. "

"Yes, mom!", shouted Jaune as he sprinted out at high speeds the moment his feet touched the ground.

"And call your sisters too ", his mother shouted after him.

* * *

After having cleaned his face and hands, Jaune proceeded to do as his mother had said, and call all the other current occupants of the Arc cottage.

He went for the closest first and stopped by the double bedroom. Though the room was quiet, almost unnaturally so, he did not even think about knocking. Instead, he gave it two sharp kicks that made the door rattle loudly.

"Jade! Beryl! Lunch is ready!"

There was a patter of two pairs of naked feet, and the door slammed open to reveal two pretty identical blonde girls of fifteen wearing shorts and t-shirts . The headphones hanging from their hands fully explained their younger brother's actions. And the rage on their faces similarly explained why said brother ran for it the moment he saw them.

Next, he made his way to the room furthest from the door. This time, he rapped quietly. Then, when no results occurred, he did it again, more insistently.

"Lapis! Lunchtime!"

The door clicked open to reveal a beautiful young lady of seventeen wearing an overlarge man's shirt with the top buttons opened to avoid them being torn off. Her spectacled face was the perfect picture of confusion as she digested his statement.

"Lunch? Wait, I have been studying for _three hours_?!"

But Jaune had already left, fully jaded to his third eldest sister's habits.

The final stop was at the rooms closest to his parents'. This time, he just walked in through the open door.

"Come on, you two. Lunch is ready. Pyrope, you can draw the cow later. Amber, I won't forget about you if you just stay there. Come on, quick!"

The two seven year olds stood up grumbling. This time, he made sure to escort them to the dining room, where the entire family was already gathered.

The elder twins glared at him, or at least Beryl did while Jade was happily chatting with Lapis. He just grinned impudently at his elder sister as he escorted the younger twins to the table.

Shortly, their mother came up balancing a tray with a large casserole of fish inside it, which she set upon the table.

"Lapis, please get the plates and the rest of the food. And hurry up. I think Jaune and Jade will start chewing on the tablecloth soon.", she said. The expressions of Grimmlike ferocity on the two's faces somewhat supported her statement. Recognising the wisdom of the act, Lapis quickly got the plates and made sure to serve them both large servings.

The family soon began to eat. Jaune and Jade wolfed down several servings of fish each. Beryl cautiously ate her food, mindful of how many servings she was having. The fifteen year old was lately highly cognizant of the fact that she rarely got into any physical activity and ran the risk of growing fat, much to her near panic. In sharp contrast to her "younger" sister, she was thus making sure to keep track of every bite. The younger twins soon forgot their meals in favour of just prodding each other, necessitating their mother to step in.

Soon, they begun to talk. Jaune and Jade had an argument over who was the greedy one, ignoring that both had had equal amounts of fish. Beryl moodily glared at Jaune as she chewed her fish thirty two times, and swallowed, as if thinking something over. Lapis was arguing with her mother over how long she had been studying.

"Lapis, I think you should relax a little. School will only open a week later and I am sure you have already read, revised and reread everything. You should get out a bit and enjoy the summers while you can!", their mother said emphatically.

Lapis shrunk in her chair a little and muttered something about needing to catch up on some work, but her mother was having none of it.

"No, I insist." Said her mother sternly, making the girl sink into sullen silence. "Ever since you went to buy yourself some new glasses in Vale(and managed to lose poor Jaune for hours), you have barely stepped foot outside. You will go to the river for a swim, no excuses."

Lapis pouted in silent defiance for a few seconds, but finally sighed and gave in. Satisfied, Mrs Arc turned to the rest.

"Will the rest of you go as well? All of you love swimming"

The twins(both pairs) enthusiastically agreed. Jaune, however, refused.

"I don't really feel like it today. You guys go ahead, I'll just... I don't know, take a walk around."

This brought table to silence.

"But Jaune, why not? You love swimming too. You're not ill, are you, dear?", his mother asked worriedly.

"Jaune is ill?", Pyrope asked, looking frightened. Amber looked up in alarm as well, her eyes going wide. Jade lifted her head to look at him, while Beryl's face suddenly evolved a rather cunning smile that nobody except Jaune noticed. But when even Lapis shifted in her seat a little to place a hand on the boy's forehead, he finally decided that it was too much.

"I'm alright! I just don't feel like swimming today. I feel fine, mom, tell Lapis to stop doing that.", he complained, twisting away from his sister's hand. Lapis turned to their mother and shrugged.

"He seems to be fine.", she said, looking confused.

"Maybe little Jauneykins has something else to do?", Jade barged in casually, eyeing the furious Jaune. "Something you don't want us to see, little brother? Maybe another dog or cat you want to make a pet of?"

"Jaunnne!", his mother started menacingly with emphasis on the "n",making him throw up his hands in alarm.

"Whoa, mom, she's lying! I just didn't feel like it today!", he shouted out to head his mother off before his treacherous sibling could fill her head with lies." I don't have any pet-I mean stray- that I'm hiding!"

"Of course, he's just hiding his new friend at The Inn.", Beryl casually dropped the bombshell, gently chewing the piece of fish in her mouth to discourage further enquiry.

Jaune saw the malicious gleam in her eyes all the same, making him glare at her as the cat went out of the bag. His mother, in turn, merely looked confused. She gave Beryl a look which asked her whether she was saying the truth. Beryl gave her an innocent look that replied in the positive. Apparently believing her, Mrs Arc turned onto Jaune.

"It's good that you have made a new friend Jaune, but why were you being so shy about it?", she questioned, as Jaune decided to perform the time honoured technique of young children caught in wrongdoing: making up tales where the truth would be easier.

"Er, I just. We kind of met just a few days ago-", he began, hands gesticulating wildly.

"Two weeks", added Beryl helpfully, swallowing the fish in her mouth.

He glared at her. How _did_ she find out about these things?! Thankfully, her knowledge was incomplete this time.

Surely Marie had not tattled?

"Yeah, two weeks. She was new here, I had no friends, so I just went "Wanna be friends?", and she went "sure", and now we're Best Friends.", he finished with quiet triumph.

It was punctured a moment later by, surprise, Jade.

"Then why didn't you tell us?", she asked lazily, and with a complete lack of malice in contrast to her twin.

"Jaune, is this girl someone that you shouldn't be with?", Mrs Arc cut in, stilling the green twins with a hand." Why did you not want me to know about her? This is not like you."

Before his mother's stern look, he felt like confessing everything at once. However, Lapis came to the rescue.

"Jaune must have been too embarrassed to tell us that he had found a new friend, right Jaune?", she said cheerfully, taking their mother's attention away from him. Adjusting her glasses, she got up from the table. "Come now, mum. He obviously wasn't getting up to anything bad for two weeks. We'll meet that Emerald girl later."

With that, the impromptu interrogation was called off. Jaune sent a silent but deadly glare towards Beryl, who smirked at him.

He would seriously have to pay her back later for this.

* * *

That evening, when the rest of his family had left for swimming and his mother was taking care of the twins, Jaune left to meet Emerald.

The Inn was usually quiet around this time due to the guests choosing to either leave to sightsee or just catch an evening nap. She would be free enough to meet him right now. Idly, he wondered if she had had a good time there before he let the thought die. He knew that she would enjoy being with Marie.

Someone had to.

He walked to the back door as usual and gave the special knock that told Marie who was there. The door clicked open, but it wasn't Marie. Jaune took a sharp breath of surprise. It was Emerald. But she was different.

Her dirty green hair with grime and oil caked on it was smooth and clean, neatly combed and cut in a bob cut. Jaune found out, to his faint surprise, that her hair was mint green. Her face was smooth and the ever present dirt had been scrubbed away. Instead of the faded and old clothes she usually wore, she was wearing a clean and starched white blouse with a tiny bird( an eagle?) stitched on it and a red skirt that looked second hand, but was still clean and neatly pressed.

Emerald's dark cheeks darkened further into a dusky shade of red. The girl poked at the ground with the toe of her new and hole-less shoes, her face turned to the side and her hands at her back.

"How do I look?", she murmured, her blush deepening to the point that her entire face was burning.

Jaune took in her new appearance, his eyes going up and down her form with disbelief. Finally, he opened his mouth as Emerald turned her head to face him anxiously.

"Is that Marie's old work uniform?"

...

"I think I saw her in it in an old picture. Didn't know they still had it. You look pretty neat, by the way. Did you finally take that bath?"

...

"I mean, you look cleaner, and your hair looks, um, greener?", he finished hesitantly, feeling suddenly wary of the look on Emerald's face.

The green haired girl took a step forward, looking him straight on with that weird(and scary) look on her face. Jaune cautiously opened his mouth to say something, but she lifted her hand, and gave him a sharp rap on his skull.

Then she went back inside, leaving the door ajar.

Jaune rubbed his head where she had hit him in confusion.

"Was it something I said?" He murmured to himself, walking in when no answer came back.

* * *

After a few minutes of persuasion, made harder by how Emerald refused to tell him what he had done, the two left the Inn to walk along their favourite spot by the village groves. Orleans mainly grew fruit crops, most prominently oranges and apples, and thus had vast lands inside their walls to allow for the area needed to grow enough to make a good profit after transport and tax costs were paid. It was made easier by how the village was bounded on three sides by deep rivers and the surrounding forests combed monthly to remove Grimm. Altogether, Orleans never saw real Grimm attacks and had, at worst, the odd Beowolf that was killed before it could get near ten kilometres of the walls.

Judicious use of Emerald's semblance and Jaune's local knowledge and experience of stealing fruits ensured that the two were never spotted nearby. Now, however, that had to end, as Jaune told her.

"- And then Lapis got mom to back off, otherwise I would have had to tell her everything about you. I'm no good at lying, Em. I'd have let everything slip anyways."

"Well, why didn't you? You don't seem to have any control over your tongue.", Emerald said rudely. Looked like she still wasn't over whatever it was he'd done.

Well, tough. They had to talk about this _now.  
_  
"Because I didn't want to give how we met away.", he growled, getting her (reluctant) attention. He continued." My sister knows that you live at the Inn. And she also knows, or at least she does now because my _other_ sister would have told her, that we were meeting for two weeks now. No, I don't know how she knew the second part." He added at her sudden surprise. Their rendezvous at the groves were supposed to be completely secret. He _still_ couldn't guess how Jade found out.

"Now that she most likely knows both things, she'll also know that I was meeting you in secret for over two weeks before you came up to the Inn. You're not a local, and must thus be a stowaway on the train. Meaning, you are most likely a criminal, and a "bad influence" ", he indicated the words with air quotations. " on me. And so I would _really_ prefer that mom doesn't know." He finished grimly.

Emerald frowned at him, biting her lip. She really didn't want Jaune to be told not to meet her. She won't agree to it if he was, she decided. She had her semblance, as well as her skills from the streets. She would meet him everyday, anytime he wanted to.

 _If_ he wanted to.

"Hey Jaune", she asked affecting a nonchalance she didn't feel in the slightest, her insides coiling around themselves. "What would you do if she did tell you that. Not to meet me, I mean."

Jaune shrugged. "Do it anyway, I guess. Between your powers and my brains, we'd manage it easily enough. Why?", he asked, oblivious to his companion's surge of happiness at the words.

Emerald's lips curled into a smile, and her walk turned a little lighter and her posture less stiff.

"Just getting things straight.", she said airily, but smiling widely all the same. "So, what do we do? You said that it's just a week till school starts, right? Maybe we could wait it out?"

"No.", Jaune said slowly, more than a little confused by Emerald's rapid change of mood. What _was_ wrong with her today? " _I_ may be going to school, but _you_ will still be here. News travels fast in villages like these, and everyone will be calling you a stowaway and a thief" here she winced slightly, but he didn't notice. " before a day has passed. People don't like outsiders here. Especially when they came in trains and stayed gods know where for two weeks."

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "And let's hope that Brown doesn't guess where you lived."

Emerald bit her lip, her mind working furiously but running into a wall each time. She really was not very good at abstract planning. Put her in a rumpus and she would find her way out with her wits, but she couldn't really sit still and plan things out with a cool head. Jaune could, though his plans were basically the only thing that could be done anyway. But he still at least _planned...  
_  
"What do we do?"

It was just as much a question as it was an appeal.

Jaune's face scrunched up in thought, trying to think of a way to get out of showing Emerald to his family. His mind came up blank.

Before a really obvious thing came to his mind.

"Em", he asked, hope flaring up. "Can you act?"

* * *

The Arc cottage was tranquil and serene in the waning light of the evening sun as Mrs Leonie Arc was currently engaged in reading The Third Crusade by the garden window. The entire house was empty of anyone but her.

For the busy housewife, this was a welcome luxury.

The two pairs of twins and Lapis had gone to swim, and Jaune had slipped out of the house to meet his friend, with the promise that he would bring her to her soon. She didn't have to worry about it, as Jaune, the little dear, always made sure to keep his words. But for now, she would just read about the conquests of Leon Oceno in Vacuo.

An hour or more into the book, her muscles were starting to ache. Just as she wondered whether she should get up and call the children back from swimming, before she heard the rapping on the door. Confused, since the children never knocked and her husband was due to come tomorrow, she got up to answer it herself.

Jaune was standing at the door with another child his own age,a small green haired girl. The girl was shrinking away from her like a frightened little bird, almost as if she was fighting the urge to hide behind Jaune. She had striking eyes of a deep blood red colour that were shyly fixed upon her. She was such a little thing, frail and small. Looking almost afraid of the tall woman in front of her.

Her heart melted instantly.

"Mom", Jaune said cheerfully as he stepped aside to display the girl. "Emerald. Emerald, mom. May we come in?"

Leonie Arc coughed and stepped back in. "Of course, of course, come in dear. Make yourself comfortable. I'll go get some snacks for you. Jaune, show her to the drawing room, please."

Even as they entered and his mother left, Jaune gave Emerald a small wink, which she subtly returned.

* * *

"I see, so you were forced to get into that train because you wanted to find a place where you can find some food. I can't say that it's legal to slip into trains like that, but your circumstances were indeed quite desperate.", Jaune's mother said sympathetically, looking at her with the same kind blue eyes Jaune had.

Despite herself, Emerald felt immensely guilty.

They were not technically deceiving her on any important point...but she wasn't quite sure that acting fragile and scared to get her sympathy was any better.

Not that all of it was an act. When she had first seen the tall blonde woman with the stern but kind of pretty face, she had genuinely felt like running. It wasn't something she could explain to herself. She wasn't as hefty as Mrs Holz nor unkind, but her very presence made Emerald feel very, very small in comparison. Her brilliant blue eyes being fixed on her had not helped.

No, there had been genuine fear in her when she had seen Mrs Arc for the first time. She was still kind of scared of her, though not in the sense that she was afraid that she would get hurt, but more like...she didn't know.

So she just munched the cookies (mint and chocolate) and just played the part of the shy stranger.

"That's true, mam.", she agreed apologetically. "Thankfully, I found Jaune quickly when I was here. We became friends and he got the Inn to keep me inside after talking to the Innkeeper. I am currently living there and helping as well as I can. Actually, it was just this morning that Mrs Holz agreed to keep me due to his help. I'm very grateful to him for that."

Mrs Arc nodded approvingly at Jaune, who beamed in response. Then her expression changed to one of mild puzzlement.

"Jaune, if you knew and had been associating" (Emerald wondered what the word even meant. Maybe be friendly with?)" With young Emerald here for two weeks, why didn't you tell me?", the mother asked. While she did not sound actually angry, her tone left no doubt whatsoever that an answer was expected promptly.

"I thought you would tell me not to be with her.", Jaune said with complete truthfulness.

"Why?", his mother asked.

"Because she stowed away in a train.", he said meekly. Maybe. She wasn't really sure how good an actor he was, but he had generally told her to say the truth when possible and just depend on the fact that she would look too pitiable to make Mrs Arc think that she was dangerous.

Which she was not. Not to Jaune.

Mrs Arc sighed, looking straight at her son's bright blue eyes with her own. "Jaune", she asked quietly. "What do I always tell you about strangers?"

"That strangers are just friends we haven't met yet.", recited Jaune. Suddenly, Emerald felt more than saw that the boy's frame seemed to have shrunk a little in his chair. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, mom." He said earnestly.

It was the truth. He was sorry, even now. Even though it was a harmless half lie, he felt sorry for lying to her.

Mrs Arc smiled, forgiving him completely. Jaune once again beamed back at her. Right then, the door slammed open.

"We're ba-ack!", shouted a tall blonde girl carrying two smaller blonde girls in her arms. Two younger girls who were as alike as peas in a pod followed behind, trying to arrange their long wet hair on their shoulders. The small party stopped when they saw the three seated people.

"Hello there!", the oldest girl said as she looked curiously at Emerald. "You must be the new girl we were talking about. Emerald, isn't she, Jaune? Nice to meet you, kid." She put the small girls down. The twins walked forward to look at her with equal curiosity, though one of them looked somewhat disappointed as her eyes went from her mother to Emerald.

The girls introduced themselves to each other soon, Beryl seemingly shrugging off the fact that Jaune hadn't got into trouble for befriending the tramp. It didn't stop Jaune from sending her a triumphant from that she simply rolled her eyes at though.

A few minutes later when the meeting had calmed down a little, Emerald made to leave the house discreetly now that she had finished what she had to do and had no further place in the family affair. However, a voice arrested her.

"Don't go right now, Em. Just stay for a little while and have dinner with us before you go.", it was Jaune, of course. She was about to quietely tell him that she would feel out of place before Mrs Arc chimed in as well.

"He is right, Emerald. You can stay until dinner. I insist on not letting the first friend Jaune has ever brought home leave without eating."

"That's right, kid. I want to hear all about what you and Jaune got away with on your secret dates away from our sights." When neither of the _ten year olds_ reacted, Lapis gave a short sigh of defeat.

Before she could form so much as a single word of either dissent or excuse, Emerald was literally pulled into the throng and interrogated on various things about her meetings with Jaune for what felt like hours. Eventually, dinner was brought in and everyone pounced on it instead. By the time she had had her third helping of roasted chicken with sauces and the dessert after, she had begun to decide that dinner at the Arcs really was a pretty great deal.

That night after she got back to the Inn and then to Marie's room, Emerald ruminated in her tired brain on the day as she changed into the old and slightly torn set of nightclothes Mrs Holz had scrounged up. This morning, she was getting dragged to the Inn to introduce her to the owner and get a bed to sleep in. Now, as she took off her shoes and waited for Marie to change so that the lights could be switched off, she was sleeping with a girl who had spent half the day talking to her about recipes, after having dinner at the house of the friend who had rescued her from the streets just two weeks ago...

There was another thing that she did not understand yet. This morning, Emerald had no home and no family to call her own.

Now, she would have two.

* * *

 **This...was the hardest chapter I have ever written. The need to balance multiple PoVs, have group conversations and include a few funny and Topaz moments took every bit of me. And the result is this clunky chapter. Can't say I'm happy.: (**

 **Well, I guess this was a learning experience. I don't think I need to point out that The Third Crusade is mentioned in Tucson's shop by Emerald, that the name of the conqueror is a joke on Richard the Lionheart (nicknamed Oe Ce No or Yes or No) and that it's a joke on the RL Third Crusade with Coeur De Lion fighting against Saladin.**

 **The names of the Arc family have a pretty obvious theme attached to them. Points for guessing what. I'll send an early extract to the one who guesses.**

 **But generally, I'm wiped out. Please send a review, I'm in need of as much advice and pointers as you can spare. Goodnight.:)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Here we go again. A comparatively short chapter since we are going to go veeery slowly until the happy couple is together again.**

 **I kind of prefer slow stories anyway, and no, I'm not bitter.**

 **RWBY is the property of RT and the creation of Monty Oum, Miles Luna, Kerry Shawcross and many others.**

* * *

The days flew by as the date dreaded by all schoolchildren irrespective of age, sex and academic ability came like a thief in the night. And it was therefore poetic irony that the only one who didn't know about it was the only thief in the small village of Orleans.

"So..you are lolling about like a sick man because your holidays are over? That's it?", Emerald asked in a combination of stunned surprise and mild amusement at the sight of her friend Jaune lying down on the grass like a lazy dog.

"That's it?", said Jaune in a strangled voice. "That's it? Emerald, are you comprehending my predicament here?!" The boy's voice went up a few pitches.

"No, and I have no idea what those words mean either.", Emerald said with blunt and brutal honesty. Jaune ,however, proved to be as dense as osmium, and her tone pinged off him.

There was even a ping, if you listened closely.

"My entire vacation, my time of lazing around in the sun is over! Now I have to deal with exams and homework and classes! Do you see what the issue is here, Em? Do you see why I'm panicking?", Jaune complained loudly, all fatigue forgotten as he sat up to gesticulate wildly. Emerald simply raised a sceptical eyebrow in response .

"Firstly, you weren't panicking. Actually, you were not doing anything. Secondly, I think you're overreacting. School couldn't really be that bad. You get to just," she flopped down besides him, looking up at the green leaves of the tree Jaune was laid out under. "Go there and have fun. With friends and games and everything. And all you have to do is read some books."

Jaune glared at her betrayal. "As if reading books is fun. And no, we don't get to do all that unless we read boring stories about how Vale was formed, learnt the name of the Councillors of Vale and try to figure out how many cakes a baker sells. That or try to remember all the rivers and mountains of Remnant and all the Kings of Vale. You tell me how I can enjoy school!"

He slumped back broodingly, before a thought came to him. "...well, there are _some_ cool books we have. Like when we read about the great Huntsmen and Huntresses and the cool stuff they did." Slowly warming to his topic, he sat up against the tree. Emerald turned her head curiously at him. "There's the one about how Zacharias the Wizard trapped the evil witch of Evernight. Or the one where Emmanuel the Fall Knight beat the Winter Maiden when she tried to freeze the world. Or how Isaac killed the Nevermore that ate the stars."

His tone had changed. It was not the vexatious, whiny tone of a ten going on eleven year old boy about going to school after the holidays. Instead, it was the dreamy, but subtly excited tone of a young boy reminiscing about the tales he heard of heroes and monsters. As he spoke of the stories, the excitement became less and less subtle until he was grinning as he told Emerald the stories he loved. About the brave warrior facing down the wicked being of cold that wished eternal Winter on the Kingdoms. About the clever wizard who trapped the evil witch in her own tower. About the Hero who shot down the massive Beast of Extinction that devoured the heavens.

"It sounds wonderful.", breathed Emerald, laid out on her stomach as Jaune finished the last tale, describing the defeated Nevermore falling to Remnant with obvious gusto. The green haired girl's eyes were shining with the awe of a child hearing a diary tale for the first time. Which it was for her, for a child who had spent her life, until just about a month or so ago, in a harsh world where she had little time for dreams.

No wonder the fantasies appealed to her.

"Yeah, they're pretty cool." Jaune shrugged, feeling much better now that he remembered the better parts of his studies. Sure, fractions sucked, but he got to do fun stuff too. Like raiding the library for storybooks or playing football.

Suddenly, Jaune felt more optimistic about school starting.

"Thanks, Em.", he said cheerfully, dusting his trousers as he got up. Emerald followed him, frowning in confusion.

"No problem, but for what?", she asked, confused but all the same trying to humour her weird friend.

He chuckled and broke into a sprint. Emerald followed him easily, her Aura enhanced legs making the difference in height inconsequential.

"For cheering me up.", he grinned as he continued to try and outrun her. He never succeeded despite being tall and strong for his age, but it was still something he kept trying to do. After all, what guy could take losing to a girl lying down?

Not Jaune Arc, that's who!

"Moving on from your weird insistence that I did something to make you thank me, could you do me a little favour? And slow down, you're only going to get yourself tired", Emerald's voice was as dry as sand as she effortlessly kept pace with the panting Jaune. The blond boy reluctantly stopped and sat down on the grass to recuperate, eyeing the irritatingly fresh Emerald with undisguised envy.

"What favour?", he asked when he caught his breathe again.

"Well...", Emerald started and stopped, realising how weird her request was going to sound like.

Recognising that his friend was tongue tied for the n'th time, Jaune performed his time honoured technique of sitting down and waiting for her to speak. Shame that he didn't have a comic to read this time until her phase was over.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait for long this time.

"I want to read your storybooks!", she said firmly.

...though perhaps that wasn't such a good thing.

"You want to read my storybooks?", Jaune repeated in a deadpan voice not unlike Emerald's, not exactly following her line of thought but deciding to humour his weird friend. "Why?"

Emerald pouted fiercely at his tone. "I-if you're just going to be like that, then forget It!" She stamped her foot in anger, her face red.

"No, no.", Jaune said soothingly. "It's alright. No need to tell me. Of course you can have them. I was just curious, that's all."

Emerald stopped glaring at him and shrunk down, her angry flush turned into a small red blush on her cheeks.

"I'm sorry", she mumbled shamefacedly. Jaune shrugged and accepted the apology gracefully.

"Forget it. Just remember to get them yourself. I'll be on the train to Vale this afternoon." At this, Emerald perked up her head in surprise.

"Vale?", she asked.

Jaune, who had been engaged in trying to fish his watch out from his various pockets, absentmindedly gave an explanation. "There's no good school here which teaches past primary, so I'm going to my Aunt and sisters in Vale. " he finally retrieved his watch. "Uh, oh, got to go."

"Wait!", Emerald cried out. "When will you be back?"

Jaune shrugged. "Four months until the Winter vacations. Don't worry, I'll call every week from Vale. Bye!"

He scurried away at top speed, leaving a lonely green haired girl in between the trees.

* * *

That afternoon, Jaune was seen off the Orleans Railway Station (built circa 49 PV) by his entire family, with the addition of Emerald who had been brought there to say her byes by a determined Marie. The green haired girl had pushed a small cake she had hastily baked with help from Marie into his hands and left. Before she could run off and avoid showing him her face, he had just pulled her into a hug.

It had been too much.

She had managed to keep the sniffing low enough that nobody had remarked loudly, though they had clearly noticed. Mrs Arc gave her a small hug, the oldest blonde girl patted her head and that acidic looking twin(Beryl?) had given her a comforting hand at her shoulder.

It had been a very miserable walk back to the Inn. She had stopped responding to Marie's words as they had neared the house, and had just ran up to the room. Undaunted, the older girl had barged upstairs and forced her way in.

Which brought them to this point. Emerald was face down on the bed, lethargic and unresponsive. Marie, in turn, was trying her best to make the green haired girl get up and stop acting like the world was coming to an end.

"Look here, kiddo. He ain't gone to fight in the Great War. He just went to school. He'll be back for the Winter Holidays in four months, so you need to stop moping around."

Emerald made a strange noise that was muffled by the mattress.

"Now, I don't get whatever you're babbling there, but I strongly suggest that you get your mug out of the bed before I physically remove you."

Again, she made a strange muffled sound. Marie's eye twitched.

A minute later, Mrs Holz stepped in to see the two girls squirming together on the bed, the taller brunette trying to physically remove the smaller greenette off the bed and being faced with her unnatural strength. The older girl's freckled face was split into a fierce grin while the smaller girl was scowling as she wrestled the larger girl off. The two were making sounds like a pair of cats thrown into a sack.

"Enough!", thundered the Innkeeper. "Marie, get off Emerald right now! The two of you are acting like a couple of Beowolves in a barn!"

The girls disengaged sheepishly, Emerald shooting off angry glares at Marie that only made the older girl smirk before she saw the expression on her mothers face.

"On the _bright_ side, it seems like young Emerald has stopped pining for that straw headed fool.", said the giant woman with an acidic tinge to her voice. "However, I won't stand for such idiocy in this Inn. Marie, go help your sister pack her bags, then pack your own. Emerald, stay here. I need to talk to you."

Marie stalked off with a contrite air, leaving Emerald alone with the terrible old woman. The small green girl looked nervously at her face, but it was as stony as ever, and she got no idea about whether or not she was about to be punished.

Personally, she hoped not. After all, it wasn't _her_ fault!

"Marie seems to have taken your mind off your troubles.", Mrs Holz observed after a few moments of silence. Emerald noted her words with some surprise.

She...was right. Just a while ago, she had been feeling down in the dumps with Jaune leaving her for months.

She felt better now.

Mrs Holz grunted in amusement. "That girl knows how to cheer people up, that she does. Her elder sister is a bit like Jaune's eldest sister, all brooding and serious. But little Marie always makes her laugh whenever she wants to. That's what she was doing with you as well."

Emerald blinked. Was that what Marie had been doing? Cheering her up?

It had definitely worked.

She suddenly felt a surge of shame. She had been acting like a spoilt child. Her. Spoilt. But it was true. She had been sad that Jaune was not with her, and she had been reduced to lying down on a soft bed and refusing to move. Something like this wouldn't have flown in the streets, just a month ago.

Had she changed so quickly? Within just a month, had she gone from a girl who knew how to take care of herself into a weak sop?

All the same, there was one thing she had to do.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Holz", she said humbly. She lived in this woman's house. If nothing else, she knew to take responsibility. "I-I shouldn't have gone to pieces like that. I was-" She was cut off by a short from Mrs Holz. The old woman was staring at her with an odd expression.

"Look here, kid.", she said. "My kids leave around this time for school. Once they leave, I know that I cannot talk to them nor see them again for months on end. For about three to four months, give or take, I have to stay alone without the people with whom I spend the most light hearted time of my life."

Emerald looked up at her in confusion. She didn't see where this was going.

"First time they left,", she continued. "I basically spent most of the day trying to keep my mind on the Inn. There was a lot of work to do, always is, so I wasn't too worried until late that night, when I had nothing to do. And then, I did damn near what you were doing. Laid down and tried not to think about how alone I was, until I fell asleep."

She gave a grunt of displeasure. "Didn't work. Only made me more and more tired every day. That was before I got to the root of the problem. That I was too attached to my girls and couldn't take leaving them. Good of old Leonie Arc to tell me that."

She paused. "And that is why you shouldn't do what I did. Don't let it drag you down, girl. It does nobody favours. You're not alone here, and he'll be back pretty soon."

Emerald bowed her head, giving two sharp nods, her face hidden.

"Oh, and another thing." Mrs Holz said, pulling out a thin book from her jacket. "That blonde idiot got this out before he left and that Beryl girl sent it here." She tossed it to Emerald, who caught it deftly. She quickly read the short title.

"Fairy Tales", She muttered, turning the page to start reading then and there. It was difficult to understand, and her face must have reflected the tension.

"Here", the Innkeeper said. The old woman took the book from her hands and opened the first page. "Come here. I'll help you read."

Emerald ran up besides the old woman, who took out an old pair of glasses and began to read.

"Once upon a time, hundreds of years ago.", she recited.

"Once upon a time", repeated Emerald, tracing the words, "hundreds of years ago."

"An old wizard lived alone..."

And thus, the two kept the impromptu lessons on for a while longer, until Emerald had gotten the hang of the story of the Clever Wizard and the Dark Witch. She did not feel lonely after that.

* * *

 **I am back! Work had made it impossible for me to write for some time, but I managed to squeeze this chapter out in the end.**

 **A thing I had always planned was to explore how Emerald would react to being separated from her blonde friend. As we saw in Canon, Emerald fell apart completely had an _EPIC_ breakdown on losing Cinder, so I didn't think that she takes it very well. This was much more muted and short, however, due to the factors that he is much less of a controlling presence than Cinder, she has others to take care of her and she was not allowed to wallow in misery, thanks to an old woman who knows how to handle loneliness. **

**And yes, there is good reason that Mr Holz is not mentioned.**

 **Also, in case anyone wondered, Jaune has left a day or two early for school due to having to change schools. Since the rest of the kids are already going to Vale for schooling, they will go later.**

 **In case anything was left in this rather rushed product, please leave a review and I will fix it. And do leave reviews if you liked it anyway. Good night/day! :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Back I am with another small chapter. And a request placed at the very end of the AN. Until then, please enjoy.**

 **RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and the creation of Monty Oum, Miles Luna, Kerry Shawcross, and many others.**

* * *

A shot rang out on the quiet night, disturbing some creatures of the forest and frightening some more. Two more rang out in quick succession, followed by another.

Emerald ran through the trees as fast as her legs could carry her. The night was moonless and the starlight was hidden by the leaves, forcing her to rely entirely on her instinct. Once or twice a shot nearly hit her, passing just a hair's breadth of her ear and deafening her. She tried to get an estimate of where the shots were coming from, but it was futile. The moment she ascertained where the shot cam from, the next one came from another direction altogether.

Panting, she leaned on a tree, keeping her eyes and senses peeled for the slightest of movements. Each leaf, bush, twig, branch, tree, sapling, rock and puddle was under her gaze.

It was as quiet as a grave.

She moved away from the tree, mapping out possible routes. Her pursuer was not in her sight, and as such her powers would not prove useful. If she even knew the neighbourhood of their presence, she would still have been able to affect them.

But still, she had a plan.

Carefully, not opening her guard for an instant, she bent down and picked up a rock. She covertly spied the area, and found a convenient bush. She pulled her arm back, slowly, precisely, and took aim.

A twig broke behind her.

In a blur of motion, she turned around and threw the rock with all of her strength. It hit thin air.

...what?

The next moment, a blast of wind threw her off her feet. Though she slammed into a tree, she just bounced off. Not a scratch came to her. From the direction of the shot, a snort of laughter came out.

"That was the oldest trick in the book, kid.", Mrs Holz stepped out, a small smile on her face. Grumbling, Emerald got to her feet and began to brush the dirt and leaves off her skirt.

"I would have won if we did this in a city.", she complained. Maybe she sounded petulant, but she felt like she could be excused this time. After all, she had just been shot.

Mrs Holz laughed. "I doubt it. All the same, you did pretty well just now. Even though you never saw the shot coming and didn't know where I was, you still kept your Aura up at all times. Not even that little surprise of mine managed to make you slip up.", she bent down and carefully pressed her fingers on Emerald's ribs. "Still, better for you that you did. I think I may have given you bruises if you hadn't activated your Aura."

Emerald beamed at the praise. "Shall we go again? I'm good for it!", she punched the air above her enthusiastically, making Mrs Holz smirk.

"No, not right now. Catch your breathe, get a blanket over yourself before you catch a cold and get your body rested. We will go again in five minutes. Last time, and then we go home to prepare dinner for the guests."

Emerald obediently sat down by a nearby rock and threw the thick field blanket Mrs Holz had brought tied around her waist (how that giant woman managed to sneak up on her with so much added weight was beyond her) and closed her eyes, willing her body to recuperate faster.

She knew that she needed to get stronger. That meant strengthening her Aura, something she had not really cared about at first. But then...

* * *

 **Two weeks after the end of the vacations**

Emerald had been folding the sheets on her bed when the call came. With Marie gone to school in Vale as well and Sophie off to Signal, the Inn only had her and Mrs Holz for now. There were just two or three guests in the building left since the majority of the tourists had left for the city.

As such, she was working quietly as Mrs Holz took care of the bar and the kitchens. She was too young to be of any help there, but she could still do the small chores.

Anything to be a little useful.

Even as she arranged the pillows, she picked up her storybook. She had been reading it well into the night until she just fell asleep, and was pleased to discover that she was getting better at it.

Though she still wasn't quite sure what "deliberation" meant. Maybe she could ask Mrs Holz later?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Mrs Holz calling her downstairs.

"I'm coming!", the little girl shouted back, throwing the book into the shelf and quickly scampering to the hall. Mrs Holz was holding a scroll in her hand as she balanced a tray in the other.

"Here.", she grunted, shoving the phone into her hand. "It's for you. From the Arcs." And without further ado, she hurried away to take the tray wherever it was needed.

Alone in the hallway, Emerald put the scroll to her ear. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Emerald. Are you feeling well?", a gentle and stately voice came to her ear.

"Morning, Mrs Arc! I'm fine, how about you?", she said cheerfully. Talking to Leonie Arc was always a very pleasant experience. Ever since she had started to know her, she had discovered that Jaune's mother was a very nice lady.

After all, how many people gave kids mint cookies every time they met?

"I am fine, Emerald. Listen, we are going to get Jaune's letter home in the afternoon. He is hardly capable of writing one himself, of course, but my eldest daughter would have written it for him. Would you like to come here and read it with us?"

Emerald quickly agreed. She had agreed not to mope about Jaune leaving for months on an end...but she still missed having him around. A letter from him would be the next best thing after seeing him again.

She hurried her chores up, impatient to tell Mrs Holz about this and ask her permission to leave.

* * *

Emerald knocked sharply on the door of the Arc cottage, giving a low growl closer to a kitten's purr than the intimidating noise she intended when the door didn't open instantly. When it finally did and the tall, slender form of Mrs Leonie Arc came up, she had to remember to behave properly.

"Good morning, Mrs Arc. May I come in?", she asked a trifle desperately, hopping on the spot to bleed out some of her extra energy.

"Good morning, Emerald. I was waiting for you. Come in, I haven't opened it yet. "

Emerald scurried in at once and was sitting on the sofa in less than a minute, eyeing the crisp envelope lying unopened on the table. An inquiring glance at Mrs Arc told her that this was, indeed, the letter.

Jaune's letter.

She fidgeted restlessly as Mrs Arc fetched a letter opener and slit the envelope, opening the letter to read. As his mother, she had the right to read the letter first, but that didn't mean that she won't hate the idea.

She hadn't heard from Jaune for two weeks.

A small period of time when put into perspective. Just about two weeks. Fifteen days. Children were impatient, and could scarcely wait for even that short time when waiting for something they wanted, but this was not just that in play.

It was more. Closer to aawaiting news from a family member than just a good friend.

Because even if she had more people to care for her and to care for, he was still the first and foremost.

As if hearing her restlessness, Mrs Arc looked up in concern. "Emerald, I'm sorry. I forgot. Here." She cleared her throat, and began to read out loud.

" _Dear Mom, Lapis, Amber etcetera and Emerald"_ ( she grinned at how her name had been singled out)

" _The new school is pretty boring, but I found the school library on the first day. Tell Emerald if she's there that she was wrong, and school is just as boring as I thought._

 _Well, I'm not going to pile on her that, though. Vale's pretty nice and has more people than the entire village twice over. We need to get on these trains to just go to school! Aunt Charlotte told me that if she just tried to drive me to school, I'd have to wake up before six!_

 _I don't really like that idea._

 _But that's not the best part! I was looking through the papers here, and I found it! The poster for Signal Academy!"_

Mrs Arc's breath suddenly hitched and she stopped reading. Emerald looked curiously at her face, which was oddly pale. However, her voice was steady when she began again.

" _You're supposed to be 13 when you get in Signal, so I still have time! All I need to do is train for an year and get my Aura unlocked. Dad can do both, right? I'll come over and get my Aura unlocked in the Winter, and then keep training until next year so that I'm strong enough to train with Dad. Then I'll get into Signal and be a real Huntsman like him!_

 _I can't wait._

 _Love, Jaune._

 _PS: Amy and Sophie won't write letters like me. Make them write too. Its wrong for them to not call home_. "

Mrs Arc stopped reading, folding the letter with unnatural care and placing it in a pile nearby. Her face was still pale, as if she was afraid. Very afraid. Of what?

Well, there was only one thing she could think of that may have made her scared...

"Mrs Arc,", Emerald asked carefully, hoping that her deduction was right. " Is there a problem with Jaune being interested in Signal?"

As if a spell were broken, Mrs Arc came to. "Nothing important, dear. ", she said quickly, rising to her feet. " I have work to do now. I'm afraid you must leave. I'll send the letter to you tomorrow after my husband has read it as well. Give Aquila my love."

Emerald did not protest as she was made to leave.

* * *

" How do you get into Signal, Mrs Holz?", Emerald asked her host as she arranged the plates the old woman was washing in the kitchen sink. The question made the old woman's thick brown eyebrows rise in intrigue.

"Why? You thinking of being a Huntress?", she asked.

"Is there anything wrong with being one?", she challenged back. Mrs Holz snorted.

"Wrong? No, there's nothing wrong with wanting to be a Huntress. You get the fame, the glory, and the money that comes with the job. You never have a dull moment with all the missions you get called into all the time. And then there's the missions themselves. Fighting Grimm invasions across Remnant, beating off major infestations, doing Search and Rescue if some disaster strikes and Grimm follow, guarding Dust mines and farming villages like this and fending off bandits and Grimm from convoys." She shrugged. "It's a good job. "

"You were a Huntress too. ", Emerald observed quietly. It wasn't a question.

"I was.", she admitted. " Graduated from Haven about twenty years ago. Used to do recon missions for the SDC and was an expert in fighting off raiders, Grimm or human. I retired when Sophie was five to look after her. My husband had built this Inn, and I ran it after he died five years ago."

"I'm sorry.", Emerald said. Losing family was horrible. She had had none until a month or so ago, and she could not bear the thought of losing them...of losing _him._

"It's alright. So, you want to be a Huntress? Mind if I ask why this thought came to you all of a sudden?"

Emerald looked at the older woman carefully, trying to ascertain how much to say. Finally, she decided upon the truth.

 _Jaune is getting to me._

She quickly recited her entire evening at the Arc cottage, including Jaune's wish to get into Signal, Mrs Arc's reaction and how she then sent her away. When she finished her explanation, Mrs Holz looked thoughtful.

"I did not lie to you about anything I said about being a Huntress. ", she said quietly. "But I guess there's another way of looking at things." The Innkeeper looked grim and stern, the lines on her face seemingly deepening as she frowned. She closed the tap and turned around to face her straight on, her gimlet like eyes boring into her skull.

"I said that there's money and fame and glory for Huntsmen. That's quite true, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. However, at the end of the day, it's dangerous and unpredictable. Sometimes there are too many Grimm. Sometimes there is one Grimm that is too much to handle. Sometimes it's other Huntsmen who went rogue. Or all or two of the above at once. Whatever it may be, every Huntsman walks in the shadow of death, and it is only our wits, skills, companions and sometimes blind, dumb luck that makes sure that we survive to go home to our families."

She paused. "That's why I fully retired from the job rather than take my girls to the city and sell this place. They already lost a father. I didn't want to take the risk that they be left alone in the world. Not if I can help it. "

Emerald had gone quiet at the speech, her face down. "I understand.", she said.

There was not a quiver in her voice.

"And you're still set on being a Huntress?", asked the Innkeeper.

"Yes.", Emerald answered firmly, raising her small face to look at Mrs Holz with a quiet, firm determination in her gaze. Something as hard as steel was in both her eyes and her voice, and there was not a trace of doubt in her.

"You won't get to change your mind once you step on it. ", warned the old woman.

"I won't.", she answered.

"This is not a decision you should make on a whim.", she warned. "As I told you, it's a great and terrible duty to be a Huntress. The only reason you should choose to do so is if there is nothing else in the world you would rather be. Because once you have trained yourself to be a warrior who can lift and throw cars, your career options are somewhat limited by how overspecialised your talents are. Many failed or retired Huntsmen get into security or odd jobs, and sometimes even crime, due to how their talents are geared more towards war than peace. You understand the risks?"

"I do.", her response came at once.

Mrs Holz met her unwavering gaze for a few more moments, before she gave a heavy sigh. "Looks like your heart is set on it, then. Very well. I promise to train you as best as I can. You already have your Aura unlocked and even a semblance that could come in use. Until next year or so, I will train you to keep your Aura activated even under duress and to use it consciously for greater power. In six months or so, I will start teaching you to use a weapon alongside your Aura. Training starts from tomorrow night. "

"I will do my very best, mam. I won't let you down.", Emerald promised, standing straighter to look the tall woman in the eye. Mrs Holz gave a grim nod.

"I believe you", she said simply.

* * *

 **Present**

The break over, Emerald was running again in the forest. Her pursuer had disappeared again, forcing her to keep moving to avoid getting hit when she couldn't see it coming.

Wait, when she _couldn't_ see it coming?

She abruptly came to a halt, and stood there in the open, ears and eyes alert for any signs of the old Huntress.

The sign came in the form of a Wind Dust bullet that hit her in the back, throwing her off her feet into the tree face first.

Mrs Holz came down from the elm tree she was hiding in. "Well?", she asked.

Emerald stood up easily and smiled at her, completely unhurt by the direct shot. A green wave of Light shimmered over her body from the stricken area , moving like a ripple in clear water.

Mrs Holz's lips curled up into the semblance of a smile. "Good work, kid. It's still far too weak, but it's better. We'll pick it up again tomorrow. Let's go home."

Emerald followed her dutifully, her bruises already healed by now. She was getting stronger each day. She could feel it. When the time to get into Signal came, she would be ready for it. And she _would_ get in alongside Jaune.

The first time she met him, Jaune had fought someone who wanted to and was going to hurt her, and he had chased him off. The second time, he had fought and won against that person and saved her life. Then he had saved her once more by making sure that she had food to eat without thieving or begging. Then he had done his best to get her a family.

He had saved her, and protected her again and again and again. From the very first time they met to now. And if he was going to put himself in danger...even if she wasn't a hero like him...

She would do whatever it took to save him.

No matter what.

* * *

 **Looks like the story is beginning again...the Signal Entry Arc. How does the name sound? It is, I think, the third arc in the story after the Meeting Arc Arc(Not a typo) and the Orleans Arc. It will end when the two reach the age of 13. Speaking of which...**

 **I have reached a snag in my writing due to having started work on two other fics that will, RL permitting, take me until November to finish. As a result, I am having great trouble with writing the chapters of Topaz( which have gone from the planned 1K to 2K) and editing them for publishing. I need a Beta to help me with this if I do not want to put massive delays between successive chapters. I may even be forced to let this fic go dormant until next year if I do not find a good Beta soon. So far, none of the ones I have contacted have answered.**

 **This is to warn all interested readers(if I have any:) ) that there may be major delays soon, and not to worry about it. I intend to finish this fic no matter how many years I have to put in to put just one more chapter in. This fic will not be dead, just dormant.**

 **Have a good day/night!**


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